FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers: Spirited Wales Team Beat Korea 2-1 To Secure First Win Of The Tournament

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Hyderabad, March 13: The Wales women's hockey team defeated Korea in the 5-8 place classification match to register their first win at the FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers 2026. The match took place at the GMC Balayogi Hockey Ground located at the Gachibowli Hockey Complex on Friday.

Korean defender Park Yeong Geun began the proceedings for Korea, scoring in the 46th minute. However, Welsh captain Elizabeth Bingham had the last laugh in the game. Bingham not only equalised but also scored the winner for her team. The team will now face either Austria or Uruguay on Saturday for the 5th-place play-off.

Wales are unable to qualify for August's World Cup, having finished bottom of their pool after narrow defeats to Scotland and Uruguay, and then suffered a 4-1 defeat by hosts India on Sarah Jones' 200th cap.

However, Kevin Johnson's side, which is currently 24th in the FIH World Ranking, will take inspiration from this win against a higher-ranked team like Korea (who are currently 16th in the FIH rankings).

Speaking about the match, Wales midfielder Izzie Howell said, quoted BBC Sports, "Super proud of our performance today. We battled through the heat and managed to find our quality, coming from behind to beat a higher-ranked team."

Howell further said that the team stuck together in the tough situation today and thereby managed to pull out a hard-fought win. "Looking forward to bringing that same energy tomorrow," she added.

Where Can You Watch The FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers 2026?

The Live Streaming of FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers Hyderabad, Telangana 2026 matches will be available on Star Sports Khel and JioHotstar.