Asia Cup hockey: India women beat China to win bronze

INDIAN women’s team defeated China 2-0 in the third-place deciding match in Women’s Hockey Asia Cup at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman, on Friday (28) to win bronze.

The defending champions left behind the disappointment of their semi-final loss against South Korea and controlled proceedings against the Chinese in the first two quarters, scoring two goals in the process to take the lead by the interval.

They, however, failed to add more to their tally in the second half and neither could the Chinese score to level the scoreline.

For India, who finished fourth at Tokyo Olympics last year, Sharmila Devi scored the first goal from a rebound in the 13th minute. In the second quarter, too, India continued to keep the pressure on their opponents and Gurjit Kaur converted a penalty corner with a brilliant drag-flick to make it 2-0 in the 19th minute.

The Chinese responded swiftly and also secured a penalty corner but India captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia did well to deny them a goal. China pressed hard and got three consecutive penalty corners with just a couple of minutes to go before the final whistle but could not convert any of them.

Japan and South Korea were set to meet for the title clash later in the day.

India started off well in the tournament with a 9-0 hammering of Malaysia but lost to Japan 0-2. They came back strongly to beat Singapore 9-1 to make the semi-finals and qualify for the women’s World Cup to be held in Spain and the Netherlands later this year.

But the two-time champions could not succeed in defending their 2017 title.