S. Thyagarajan
Bangkok: Competition shifted to a different level as the top four in the continent battled it out to find their way to the semifinals of the Asia Cup hockey championship for women on a windy and cloudy Tuesday afternoon.
While India and China drew 1-1 in a key Pool ‘A’ contest, Korea and defending champion Japan shared four goals in Pool B.
India takes on Malaysia on Wednesday — the latter has an outside chance of making it if it beats India while a draw will see India through.
Malaysia claimed full points against Singapore on Tuesday to take its points tally to six.
Strong fight-back
India produced an impressive show against the redoubtable Chinese to level after being down by a goal at half-time.
The contest contained all the ingredients of a close combat.
Given the credentials of the opponent — a silver medallist in the last Olympics and enjoying a World rating of No. 3 — the verdict is definitely a moment to remember for coach Kaushik and his valiant players.
Almost throughout, the Indians played with assurance, intertwining it with adeptness and athleticism.
None deserved more encomiums in the squad than the mid-fielder Asanta Lakra, who inspired the rest to adjust to the tempo set by the Chinese. She never put a foot wrong, and displayed rare consistency in the face of continuous pressure. Equally noticeable were Deepika Thakur and Mukta Barla.
Initial advantage
It was the Indians who had the territorial advantage initially. But the frontline worked hard, thanks to the persistence of Surinder Kaur and Saba Anjum with Jasjeet Handa featuring now and then.
Progressively, however, India gave in to the systematic right flank attack from Li Xia and Ma Wei. The Chinese were flawless in their long passing and shifted the pressure from one corner to the other in a trice. The Indian defence had to work hard to keep the slate clean. Binita Toppo became somewhat error prone as the match wore on.
China surged ahead midway in a well-conceived penalty corner sequence. A quick shot by Ma Yibo was trapped neatly by Ma Wei, whose cross was dispatched into the boards by Liao Hui.
India managed to work up pace to trouble the Chinese deep defenders. Three penalty corners surfaced in quick time and India earned the equaliser. A carpet drive by Jasjeet from a penalty corner culminated in Saba Anjum netting a beautiful goal.
Defence tested
China responded to this with a series of quick sallies, especially in the final quarter forcing the defenders to summon their best skills to contain the tide. Goalkeepers Dipika Murty and Savita, who substituted the former, brought off some smart saves to thwart China’s effort.
“We were lucky,” admitted China’s coach, Kim Sang Ryul, and said that he was not happy at all with the result.
Needless to say, Kaushik was happy, although he did point out the deficiencies in a few areas. India and China are level with seven points each, with a match remaining for each.
With Japan and Korea playing out a 2-2 draw, both teams, with 10 points each, are assured of a place in the last four.
The results: Pool A: India 1 (Saba Anjum) drew with China 1 (Liao Hui); Malaysia 4 (Siti Normarina Ruhani, Nuraini Abdul Rashid, Sitirahmah Othman, Chitradevi Arumugam) bt Singapore 0.
Pool B: Kazakhstan 4 (Yelena Belynova-2, Gulnari Mangaleiva, Vera Domashineva) bt Hong Kong 2 (Sui Suet Yi, Nicola Jane Sawyer); Chinese Taipei 5 (Wan Wen Yang-2, Hsiu Chin Chen-2, Chen Tzu Chen) bt Sri Lanka 1 (Dinesha Ameeta Perera); Korea 2 (Miyong Eun, Dae Rae Kim) drew with Japan 2 (Sato Masoko, Ai Murakami).
Wednesday’s matches: Sri Lanka v Kazakhstan (12-30 p.m.); Korea v Chinese Taipei (1 p.m.); Japan v Hong Kong (2-30 p.m.); China v Thailand (3 p.m.); Malaysia v India (5 p.m.).