Hockey Asian Champions Trophy: Running in top gear

champions India stunned Olympics silver medallist China 3-0 to seal a semifinal spot at the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Saturday.

India scored two field goals through Sangita Kumari (32nd miniute) and skipper Salima Tete (37th) before tournament’s highest scorer Deepika (60th) converted a penalty corner in the final minute.

The win against world No. 6 China was India’s fourth consecutive win in the tournament. The hosts are now on top of the standings with eight points from four games. China have dropped to the second place with six points from four matches.

India will square off against Japan in their round robin campaign on Sunday. The top four teams in the six-team continental tournament will qualify for the semifinals.

India were on the offensive from the word go and created most of the opportunities without any success as the Chinese defended deep in their own territory and relied on counterattacks.

India secured their first real chance in the opening minute of the game in the form of back-to-back penalty corners but wasted both the opportunities.

Minutes later, Sharmila Devi essayed a precision pass to Sunelita Toppo, whose first touch opened up the Chinese defence. It gave Deepika a one-on-one situation with the opposition goalkeeper, who came out on top to deny the Indian forward.

China also secured a penalty corner in the first quarter but the Indian defence stood tall. Both the sides were cagey in the second quarter with India making some silly mistakes after a bright start. India secured their second penalty corner in the 21st minute but to no avail.

Five minutes later, India secured another penalty corner but Manisha Chauhan’s flick was saved by the goalkeeper and Lalremsiami’s try from the rebound went wide as the deadlock continued after half time.

The Indians came out with the same tempo after the change of ends and controlled the proceedings of the match. Their efforts finally bore fruit in the 32nd minute when Sangita deftly met with Sushila Chanu’s defence splitting pass from the midfield.

Five minutes later, the Indians doubled their lead with another fine field goal. It was skipper Salima who found the target after she was neatly set up by the combined effort of Beauty Dung Dung and Preeti Dubey.

The Indians continued their domination with relentless attacks on the Chinese citadel but were denied by the rival goalkeeper on several occasions. The Chinese too tried their best but credit must go to the resolute Indian defence.

Desperate for goals, China withdrew their goalkeeper with a little over three minutes to go and the move backfired as India scored their third goal in the final minute of the game.

Sangita secured India’s fourth penalty corner with her smart stick work and Deepika rose to the occasion, flicking the ball to the right corner for her eighth goal of the tournament.

Meanwhile, in other matches of the day, Japan beat Malaysia 2-1 while South Korea defeated Thailand 4-0.