Defending champions India continued their dominance with a 3-1 victory over Japan at the Women’s Junior Asia Cup Hockey Championship in Oman’s capital Muscat on Saturday. Mumtaz Khan (fourth), Sakshi Rana (fifth), Deepika (13th) scored in the first quarter, and Nico Maruyama scored a consolation goal for Japan in the 23rd minute. It was a one-sided first quarter for India led by Jyoti Singh, with Sunalita Toppo sprinting to intercept a dangerous ball in the second minute to prevent The Japanese team had a chance to drag. India capitalized on a mistake and took the lead two minutes later. A minute later, Sakshi Rana scored again, giving the defending champion a 2-0 lead.
India learned lessons from its group stage loss to China. With 2 minutes left in the first quarter, the Indian team got a penalty kick and Deepika made it 3-0. In the second quarter, the Japanese team tried to break through the opponent’s defense many times, but was frustrated by the opponent’s defense. The Japanese team finally scored first in the 23rd minute, narrowing the gap, and the score remained until the end. In the championship match, India will face the Chinese team, which defeated the Korean team, the runner-up in the previous stage, 4-1 in the second semi-final.
Junior team has chance to make history
Now, the junior women’s team will have a great chance to repeat the great feat of the senior women’s team. Recently, the adult women’s team defeated the Chinese team in the final and won the Women’s Asian Championship trophy. In this event held in Rajgir, Bihar last month, the Indian women’s hockey team defeated the Chinese team 1-0 in the final to win the Women’s Asian Champions Cup for the third time.
(Input – PTI)
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