Hangzhou (China): The Indian women’s hockey team faltered when it mattered the most, losing 1-4 to China in the final of Asia Cup to miss out on direct qualification for next year’s World Cup, here on Sunday.
India drew the first blood through a penalty corner conversion by Navneet Kaur in the very first minute itself before China came into their own, scoring through Zixia Ou (21st minute), Hong Li (41st), Meirong Zou (51st) and Jiaqi Zhong (53rd) to win their third title in tournament and secure their passage to the 2026 World Cup, to be held in Belgium and Netherlands.
India got their first scoring chance within 39 seconds of the start of the match in the form of a penalty corner and Navneet was on target to hand her side an early lead.
Three minutes later, China had a bright chance to draw level when they earned back-to-back penalty corners, but the Indians defended brilliantly.
Stunned by the early goal, China went on the offensive and mounted continuous raids on the Indian half, but the Salima Tete-led side held its ground stoutly.
The Chinese kept up their relentless pressure on the Indian citadel and earned another set of penalty corners two minutes into the second quarter but failed to breach the resolute opposition defence.
China created chances after chances, keeping the ball almost in the Indian circle but were unable to find the equaliser.
The home team’s relentless pressure finally paid off as it secured the equaliser in he 21st minute through a penalty corner conversion by Zixia Ou.
The equaliser seemed to have lifted the morale of China as they continuously pushed for the lead, keeping the India defence under tremendous pressure. However, both the teams went into half-time break locked at 1-1.
China, though, were the more dominant side in the first half.
India switched gears after the change of ends and played attacking hockey, albeit without much success as the Chinese defence was at its best, keeping the ball away from their circle.
Meanwhile, China’s persistent attacks finally paid dividends when Hong Li scored a fine field goal from a counter attack four minutes from the third quarter.
Trailing by a goal, the Indians, ranked ninth in the world, pressed hard for the all-important equaliser in the fourth and final quarter but failed to breach the Chinese defence.
The Chinese extended their lead by pumping in two more goals in a span of two minutes to take the tie away from India and secure their title.
In the 51st minute Meirong Zou scored from a field effort and then Jiaqi Zhong added another field goal two minutes later to take a comfortable lead.
China had earlier won the Asia Cup in 1989 in Hong Kong and 2009 in Bangkok.
India were done in by the subdued performance of their strike force in the final as the likes of Mumtaz Khan, Lalremsiami, and Sunelita Toppo failed to rise to the occasion after decent outings in the earlier matches.
India will now have to go through the World Cup Qualifiers to seal their place in the top global event.
