The hosts will face Australia in the semi-final on Friday.
India discovered scoring ways to finally end Italy's World Cup adventure through a field strike from Lalremsiami (20th minute) and two penalty corner goals from Neha Goyal (45th) and Vandana Katariya (55th) to register the emphatic win.
Olympic silver medallist Belgium created history by making their maiden appearance in the men's hockey World Cup summit clash, thrashing England 6-0 in a lopsided first semi-final.
Minnows Austria continued to impress in the ongoing men's Junior Hockey World Cup as they spanked declining Asian powerhouse Korea 5-2 in Lucknow on Saturday to remain in contention for a surprise quarter-final berth from Pool A in the 16-team tournament.
Aiming for their best finish in 16 years, hosts India would find much-improved Argentina a tough nut to crack when the two team's lock horns in the seventh-eighth place play-off match of the hockey World Cup in New Delhi on Friday.
An impressive Malaysia scored two goals on either side of the break to shut the door on England with a 4-2 win in their last league encounter at the Junior Men's Hockey World Cup at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, in New Delhi on Monday.
Spain upset last year's bronze medallist Netherlands 2-1 in a classification match on Saturday to set up a clash against Argentina in the fifth-sixth place play-off of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup, in Lucknow on Saturday.
To play Spain in crossover for QF berth
While all her teammates left for home after the junior camp ended on March 19, Suman decided to stay back at the SAI centre in Bengaluru with the senior sides and was stuck there for more than two and half months because of the nationwide lockdown.
India crashed to their second defeat in the men's hockey World Cup by conceding a late goal yet again to go down 1-2 against England at the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague on Monday.
The Indian team may not have won medals but the youngsters have won the hearts of everyone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on the FIFA Under- 17 World Cup during his monthly radio programme.
Upset over Pakistan's worst performance in a hockey World Cup, the national federation sacked its selection committee and team management while the entire 18-man squad resigned, owning moral responsibility for the shoddy show in the 12th edition of the tournament in Delhi.
Mohammad Saqlain will lead the Pakistan side in the hockey World Cup in Germany next month.
Thanks to some attacking hockey by the 12 participating countries, the ongoing World Cup is heading towards becoming the most high-scoring one with a whopping 117 goals scored so far at the halfway stage.
Australia hockey captain Jamie Dwyer is looking forward to playing in the Hero Honda FIH World Cup to be held in New Delhi's Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium from February 28 to March 13 next year and reckons defending champions Germany as the team to be most feared.
Terror threats notwithstanding, Hockey Australia on Thursday said it remains committed to sending its team for the World Cup in India even as jittery family members of the players demanded that the country pull out of the event.
India and hosts Holland are in the same pool for the junior hockey World Cup scheduled to be held in Rotterdam
In a strongly-worded message, the International Hockey Federation on Monday warned India that it may lose the right to host the 2010 World Cup for men if satisfactory progress is not made in FIH-backed developmental project and preparations for the mega event.
Newly appointed Pakistan hockey coach Khwaja Junaid said that Pakistan are seeking revenge for the humiliating loss to India in the World Cup, when the arch-rivals clash in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament on May 7.
Some blamed it on over-dependence on Sohail Abbas, others felt they didn't look spirited enough as former players castigated Pakistan's hockey team for the crushing defeats to India and England in the World Cup.
Title favourites Australia registered the biggest win in the history of the hockey World Cup, inflicting a humiliating 12-0 defeat on South Africa in a Pool B match.
The Indian women, like their male counterparts, finished 11th in the hockey World Cup.
Teams for the hockey World Cup and SAFF Games would be announced on August 16.
The England hockey team suffered a big jolt on Thursday as their key defender Richard Mantell was ruled out of the ongoing World Cup after twisting his right ankle during their match against Pakistan in New Delhi.
Hockey India constituted a strong 11-member committee to evaluate India's pathetic performance in the ongoing World Cup at The Hague, Netherlands.
North Korea's official KCNA news agency issued a brief report early on Wednesday, saying the qualifier ended in a 0-0 draw after a series of "attacks and counterattacks".
This was Apurvi's second ISSF World Cup gold of the year followed by a world record score in New Delhi in February.
IHF President KPS Gill also said that he was not in favour of having a foreign coach for the team.
Skipper Diwakar Ram led from the front, scoring five goals, as former champions India opened their campaign in the Junior World Cup hockey tournament, by crushing co-hosts Singapore 10-0 in Singapore on Monday. Diwakar flicked home all his five goals from penalty-corners in the 15th, 18th, 29th, 55th and 66th minutes at the Seng Kang Sports Complex.
Dropped from India's scheme of things for Azlan Shah Cup, senior forwards Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur today claimed they have been made scapegoats for the team's poor show in the recent World Cup.
Hockey India President A K Mattoo on Friday cleared the air over Sandeep Singh's participation in next month's Chammpions Challenge tournament and 2010 World Cup, saying the ace drag-flicker has recovered from his back injury and is expected to be part of both the events.
Amid speculation surrounding India-Pakistan World Cup clash owing to the Pulwama terror attack, the International Cricket Council said it does not foresee any change in the schedule of the mega event, starting on May 30.
India went on a goal-scoring spree and thrashed Japan 7-2 in their first Pool G play-off match for 9 to 16 places in the men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Singapore on Sunday.
Australia and New Zealand are on standby to host the 2011 cricket World Cup if the terror threat in the sub-continent is found to be too high, NZC CEO Justin Vaughan has claimed.
The crisis on the captaincy issue of the Indian hockey squad deepened on Sunday with chief coach Jose Brasa adamant on pushing his case that Prabhjot Singh should be made the skipper of the World Cup side.
Verma wins compound individual gold, opens tally for India.
Tainted cricketer Anuj Dedha, who had assaulted former India pacer and Delhi selector Amit Bhandari, was on Wednesday banned for life by the state association.
The Women's World Cup stopped to take a breath on Wednesday following an opening round of games that produced a little bit of everything.
India's dream run in the Women's Junior Hockey World Cup ended as they lost 0-3 to defending champions the Netherlands scored in the second semi-final in Monchengladbach, Germany, on Friday.
'This World Cup is likely to be much more a clash of plans than of talent,' says Devangshu Datta.
