The Indian women’s junior hockey team on Sunday registered a thumping win over Korea in the final of the Women’s Junior Hockey Asia Cup as they clinched their maiden title in the tournament. The Women in Blue outclassed four-time champions by 2-1 in Kakamigahara, Japan. The Indian team displayed brilliant defence along with attacking skills.
For India, Annu and Neelam found the back of the nets with their strikes second and third-quarter strike. Meanwhile, for Korea, it was Park Seo Yeon, who scored the lone goal in the second quarter.
The opening quarter of the match saw a goaless 15-minute period as depsite the teams going on attacking approach. Annu put India on the scoresheets with her 22nd minute strike from a penalty corner. However, the Koreans were quick to react and Seon Yeon put her team to parity with strike three minutes later. The teams went stalemate into the first half.
The second half started with Koreans keeping the possession but India took the counter attacking approach later. Neelam then put India back into the lead with a powerful strike to low right. Indian then fended off Korea to remain unscathed and go on to win by 2-1.
The Indian team has won its first Women’s Hockey Junior Asia Cup title. They have earlier fallen short on the final hurdle in 2012, which was their maiden final appearance. India had then lost to China 2-5 in Bangkok.
However, this season brought joy for the Indians. “We were acutely aware of the specific areas we needed to excel in order to overcome the Koreans,” Indian captain Preeti said after the match. “The final match brought about a considerable amount of nerves. However, we knew that as a team we have to play our best game to achieve something special and that’s exactly what we did. We are elated to make our nation proud,” she added.
