Clinical Indian women pumped in five goals without answer against South Korea today in the last pool match to post their record fifth continuous win in the on going Ranchi rendezvous. The salient feature of today’s encounter is that both the up and coming youngsters and the established stars dished out a merry display in front of the capacity crowd. The synergy between them and the energy levels of two generation of stars came to light in the entire 60 minutes of play.
If local lasses duo of Sangita Kumari and Salima Tete that set the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh turf on fire early on and gave an unassailable 3-0lead, then came the duo of Neha / Monika and Vandana Katariya who took over the charge from them.
Sangita Kumari is emerging as a great striker
Deepika and Jyoti too proved their mettle with dashing moves and daring interceptions. Many times the Indian youngsters stole the ball from the deep defence of Korea to set up others to score. Over all its an outstanding show by the entire Indian team at Ranchi.
Vandana and Neha scored in style after Salima’s brace, both set up by Tsunami like surge of Sangita Kumari. The duo were delight to watch and proved how good finishers they are.
India last scored as many as five goals against the former Asian giant Korea was in the home Asian Games (1982). The score then was 5-1. Today’s 5-0 therefore is the highest win by India over their traditional tormentor Korea.
WACT Ranchi Points table
Its also for the first time that the Indian lasses put out a continuous 5th victory in the annals of Asian Champions Trophy.
It was gratifying to see parents and colleagues of local stars in the team Salima Tete, Sangita Kumari and Nikki Pradhan were on hand to witness the match.
Pool topper India will now take on the same rival on Saturday in the first semifinal while the other will be between Japan and China.