Women confident of ending 36- year- old wait for gold

Jakarta, Aug. 30: Having broken a 20- year- old jinx, a confident Indian women’s hockey team will be desperate to end a long 36- year wait when they take on Japan in the gold medal clash of the Asian Games here on Friday.

Last edition’s bronze medallist India on Wednesday registered a hard- fought 1- 0 win over China to enter the final of the Asian Games after 20 years. The Indian women last made it to the summit clash of the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1998 and ended runners- up after losing to Korea. Having already achieved that goal, India’s next target will be to reclaim the gold medal after 36 long years. The Indians won their only Asiad gold in the women’s hockey way back in 1982 in New Delhi.

Come Friday, they would be desperate to break that jinx and add to their one gold, one silver and three bronze medals tally from nine previous appearances. Going by world ranking and performance in the tournament so far, world No 9 India will start as favourites against 14th ranked Japan.

Like their male counterparts, the Indian women too have been impressive in the Games so far with an unbeaten record, having registered huge victories against Indonesia ( 8- 0), Kazakhstan ( 21- 0), Korea ( 41) and Thailand ( 5- 0) in the pool stages before the close win over resilient Chinese on Wednesday.

The Indians have been brilliant in defence so far, conceding just one goal in 300 minutes.