Hockey Asian Champions Trophy: India look to work on finer points against Thailand

Buoyed by back-to-back victories in as many games, hosts India will look to work on the finer points of the game with an aim to thrash minnows Thailand in the women’s Asian Champions Trophy here on Thursday.

Both India and reigning Olympics silver medallists China are unbeaten so far from two matches but the hosts have an inferior goal difference. China are atop the points table with a goal difference of 20, while India have a goal difference of five and a handsome victory on Thursday will only help their cause ahead of their final two round robin matches against China and Japan.

Japan are placed third in the points table ahead of South Korea. The top four sides from the round robin stage will qualify for the semifinals of the six-team continental tournament.

In both the matches India created plenty of scoring chances but failed to convert many. While India defeated Malaysia 4-0 in their tournament opener, they scored a late goal to eke out a narrow 3-2 win over South Korea.

The Indian players were guilty of rushing and faltered in choices once inside the opposition circle.

“...we could have scored more goals. We were guilty of rushing and did not look for the right choices,” chief coach Harendra Singh said. “We will watch clippings of the match and analyse where we went wrong and work on the finer points,” he added.

Another factor which would be a cause of concern for Harendra is the team’s poor penalty corner conversion rate. Against Malaysia, India secured 11 penalty corners but converted just three and that too from indirect attempts. India failed to make use of eight set-pieces against Korea.

The bright spot for India has been the performances of forwards Sangita Kumari and Deepika, both scoring three goals apiece. Sangita specially has been a livewire upfront with her deft stick work, but the likes of Sharmila Devi, Preeti Dubey, Beauty Dung Dung need to share more responsibility. Skipper Salima Tete and her deputy Navneet Kaur too need to pull up their socks in the midfield.

A win on Thursday will virtually seal India’s place in the semifinals before tough matches against China and Japan. Going by rankings, ninth placed India are the second best side in the tournament after world No. 6 China. And Thailand, who are ranked 29th in the world, should be an easy outing for the Indians.