Indian women hockey team outclassed Malaysia by 2-0 in Asia Cup

Kakamigahara, November 1: The Indian Women’s Hockey Team on Tuesday registered a commanding win over Malaysia by 2-0 in its third and final match of pool A at the Women’s Asia Cup 2017 being held at Kakamigahara Kawasaki Stadium, Japan. Vandana Kataria and Gurjeet Kaur scored for India to defeat Malaysia.

 

India and Malaysia got off to a slow start and both the teams played cautiously. With Malaysia playing defensive hockey, India threaded patiently without making any unforced errors that would bring advantage to Malaysia. Later, Malaysia put India on the back foot when they won the first penalty corner of the match in the initial minutes of the second quarter.

However, an alert Rajani Etimarpu made a brilliant save. The next few minutes saw both team trade penalty corners. While India earned one penalty corner, Malaysia was awarded two but they didn't lead to goals. The two teams played out evenly in the third quarter too.

 

India held their nerves to turn the match around in the fourth quarter as they came up with a strong finish. First, forward Vandana Katariya scored a sensational field goal in the 54th minute to give India a 1-0 lead.

The following minute saw drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur converted a penalty corner taking India's lead to 2-0 that put pressure on the Malaysian unit. Though Malaysia won a penalty corner at the start of the fourth quarter, their poor conversion dented their hopes. Though the Malaysians made desperate attempts to score at the end of the match, the Indian defence kept away the attackers.

 

Earlier, in the tournament, the Indian Women’s Hockey Team came up with an all-around performance to register a commanding 4-1 victory over China in the second match of pool A. The team had previously beaten Singapore 10-0 in their opening match.

The Indian eves are currently at the top of 4-team Pool-A. Malaysia is in second place in the pool, while South Korea and Japan are leading the Pool B. The quarterfinal matches will be played on Thursday, the Semi-finals on Friday and the final on Sunday.