India grabs silver in Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Hockey

 

Anupa Barla of India

3rd Women’s Hockey Asian Champions Trophy witnessed its finals on Saturday, 9th November, 2013. The top two teams on the leader board after the league stage, India and Japan were up against each other in the perfect morning for the battle.

The match went concluded in favour of Japan as the hosts defeated India by 1-0. It was the first time for Japan to win this title. India finished as runner-up in this tournament. While in the bronze medal match between Malaysia and China, Malaysia managed to book third place in the tournament by defeating China by a convincing 3-1.

Japan looked in a hurry to finish their run to the medal as they scored their first goal in the 2nd minute of the game. They converted their first penalty corner into a crashing goal.

The Indians attempted a comeback as they tried their level best, but the efforts were not good enough to penetrate the Japanese defence. They host displayed a phenomenal defence and maintained the lead till the end. Indians were blessed with 3 penalty corners in a row, but were not able to capitalize them into equalizer.

After scoring in the first half, Japan also got 3 more penalty corners. They failed to increase the margin of lead. After the end of the first half, Japan dominated with a score of 1-0.

In the 50th minute of the game, Japan got a chance to score a goal on a penalty corner. Indian goal keeper turned to be the saviour and presented a rock solid defence.

In the crucial minutes of the game, India got a penalty corner in the 64th minute. But they were not successful to level the match and ultimately lost to Japan by 0-1.

The decisive matches for the Men’s titles will be played on Sunday, 10th November, 2013. Japan will take onto the defending champions Pakistan in the finals whereas Indian Men will compete up against Oman for the 5th place. Malaysia and China will be again locking horns for the bronze medal in the tournament but for the Men’s title this time.