India women beat China, enter final after 20 years
GRITTY VICTORY Gurjit Kaur’s 52ndminute strike sets up 10 win, books summit clash against Japan
JAKARTA: India overcame a gritty China 1-0 to enter the final of the Asian Games women’s hockey competition after 20 years. They play Japan, who beat Korea 2-0 in the other semi-final, in the gold medal match on Friday.
Despite scoring big wins in the league stage, India women struggled to dominate the three-time Asian Games champions in the semi-final. Gurjit Kaur scored the only goal in the last quarter after the girls looked intent only on displaying individual stick-work and failing to play as a team.
After facing a tough challenge from the Chinese in the first quarter, India managed to create a few openings in the subsequent three quarters. However, lack of quick passing and some shoddy attempts meant they couldn’t score with the Chinese defence parrying both forwards Vandana Katariya and Navneet Kaur.
China relied on a defensive strategy and did not venture much into the Indian citadel. Goalkeeper Savita Punia was tested by the Chinese forwards only once when they managed to get a penalty corner.
At a time when the match looked set for another shootout — after their Asia Cup final last year — Gurjit Kaur’s perfect hit on the top right corner of the net off the team’s seventh penalty corner in the 52nd minute brought cheers on the faces of Indian fans.
The goal was a result of sustained pressure on the Chinese goal in the final quarter as the Indians managed to earn three back-to-back penalty corners within a period of two minutes, and Gurjit managed to convert the last one into a goal.
With eight minutes to go, China finally came out of their citadel and tried their best to draw level but India proved to be a tough nut to crack.
Captain Rani Rampal was surprised with her team’s poor display in the first two quarters. “Yes, we didn’t play to our potential in the first two quarters, and I don’t know what went wrong,” she said after the match. “We could have scored more goals if we had played with better coordination on the frontline.”
“But anyway, this is a big win for us and we are just a step away from achieving the biggest success of our lives, and I am sure we will win against Japan in the final,” said Rani.
This is India’s third entry in the final of the women’s hockey competition. They won in 1982 and finished runners-up in 1998.