India, March 15 -- The Indian women's hockey team lost 0-2 against the higher-ranked England to finish runners-up in the FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers but still managed to qualify for this year's mega-event, here on Saturday.

World number 6 England scored through a penalty corner conversion by Grace Balsdon in the 13th minute before doubling their lead through a field strike from Elizabeth Neal in the 43rd minute.

The Indians, ranked ninth in the world, tried their heart and soul throughout the entire 60 minutes but failed to break the resolute English defence.

Besides champion England, runner-up India and Scotland, who defeated Italy 1-0, qualified from this event for the World Cup.

This edition of the World Cup will be jointly hos...