Donghae: Finalists, India and Korea, drew their round-robin tie 1 – 1, while China won their match against Japan 2 – 0, and will play Malaysia in the Bronze medal games tomorrow.
In the first match of the day, Asia’s number side faced Japan to secure their place in the Bronze medal match. Had Japan defeated China by two goals or more, China would have dropped to the bottom of the table. However, a strong attacking line-up for China proved too strong for Japan. A quick counter-attack from China saw Xiaoming Song collect the ball at the top for the circle and scored through the legs of the Chinese goalkeeper with the reverse strike. The scores remained unchanged till the end of the half-way mark, by which Japan had won 4 penalty corners, but failed to avail any of them. In the 32nd minute, Jingrong Zhang doubled the lead for China after she smashed the ball home at the end of a strong solo run from the half-way line. The win paved China’s place in the Bronze medal match, which they will play tomorrow against Malaysia.
The second match of the day was a face-off between the finalists of the Donghae Women’s Asian Champions Trophy, India and host nation, Korea. India played a very defensive game and did not allow the Koreans to do much inside the 25-yard mark. However, the Korean side did manage to find a breakthrough into the Indian circle and win a penalty corner. Seul Ki Cheon’s clinical finish into the bottom corner gave the host nation the lead. The host team continued to retain possession with a fast interchange of play for the majority of the match and converted another penalty corner into the back of the net, however, the goal was disallowed by the umpire. India stepped the pace up in the final quarter of the match as they pressed their midfield line up the turf, winning a short corner in the 40th minute. Lalremsiami’s push beat the goalkeeper and put India on level terms. At the end of the day, there was nothing to separate the sides.
At the end of the round-robin ties, India and Korea remain undefeated with 10 and 8 points respectively. China is in third with 6, while Malaysia is in fourth place with 3 points. Japan, with only a draw against Korea, finish at the bottom of the table.
The Bronze medal match will start at 12:45 PM and the Final match will commence at 3 PM. Both the matches will be covered live on YouTube on the links provided below.
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