Thrilling match draw between India and Korea in women’s hockey
Hangzhou (IANS). The Indian women’s hockey team made a spectacular comeback after falling behind against Korea in its third Pool A match of the Asian Games and played a thrilling 1-1 draw.
Navneet Kaur (44′) scored for India and Hyejin CHO (12′) scored for Korea.
Both the teams showed aggression from the beginning and Korea had a chance to take the early lead, but Indian team vice-captain and defender Deep Grace Ekka made a brilliant save on the goal line to stop Korea from progressing.
After this, India got into a fast passing rhythm controlling most of the possession and Sangeeta Kumari also got a good chance to give India the lead as she crossed the Korean defense and had to beat her goalkeeper but she did so. Couldn’t do it. Thus his shot was off target and he missed a big chance.
Meanwhile, Korea started to counter-attack and it paid off when they won a penalty stroke, which Hyejin CHO (12′) converted without any difficulty. After this, India increased its pace in search of equality. India came close to scoring on several occasions, but the team did not succeed and the first quarter ended with Korea leading 1–0.
India made a bright start in the second quarter in an effort to level the scores, winning two penalty corners but failing to convert either of them. Also, Sangeeta Kumari once again had a big chance to score the equalizer by beating the goalkeeper but her shot did not reach the target.
To take advantage of their lead, Korea made a strong offensive effort in the third quarter, earning an early penalty corner but could not convert it. Meanwhile, India remained determined to equalize and put Korea’s defense under pressure with a fast attack and they got the benefit when Navneet Kaur (44′) converted a penalty corner to bring the Indian team on par.
The third quarter ended with the score 1–1.
After scoring the equalizing goal, India performed strongly in the fourth and final quarter of the match. However, Korea not only withstood the pressure well but also gave a tough challenge to India.
The Indian team started counter-attacking in search of the winning goal and even won a penalty corner in the last minutes of the game, but could not convert it. Both teams could not score a single goal in the last quarter and thus the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Indian team, which is unbeaten so far, currently tops the Pool A points table with seven points from three matches.
India will face Hong Kong China in its last Pool A match on Tuesday.
