Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2024 hockey: India beat Japan in final pool match to finish atop standings
Deepika scored a brace for India after Navneet Kaur opened the scoring. The Indian women’s hockey team will play Japan again in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
Hockey
The Indian hockey team beat Japan 3-0 in its final pool match of the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2024 at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium in Bihar on Sunday.
Navneet Kaur (37’) broke the deadlock in the third quarter before Deepika (47’, 48’) converted two penalty corners in the fourth.
With the win, India finished at the the top of the Asian Champions Trophy standings with a perfect record of 15 points from five matches. Japan, meanwhile, finished fourth with five points to take the final semi-final berth.
The Indian women’s hockey team will play Japan again in the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2024 semi-finals on Tuesday.
With the top four teams out of the six competing making the semi-finals, reigning champions India and two-time runner ups Japan are already qualified for the top four and could potentially meet each other again in the final.
India, ninth in the hockey rankings, were clearly the superior side in the opening half.
Despite the crisp passing, eight circle entries, four penalty corners and five shots on target in the first two quarters, though, Salima Tete and Co. failed to disturb the scoreboard as the first period ended goalless.
World No. 11 Japan also managed four circle entries in the half, largely thanks to captain Yuri Tanaka’s brilliant showing, but the Indian defence didn’t let the visitors any shots on target.
However, just as they did against the People’s Republic of China on Saturday, the Indian women’s hockey team found a way to make their dominance count after the restart.
Navneet Kaur showcased her individual brilliance to drive into the Japanese circle before placing a powerful reverse hit past Japanese goalkeeper Mizuki Morita.
The opening goal only added to the confidence of the Indian players, who continued to dominate the proceedings for the remainder of the game and managed to dictate the tempo of the match.
Deepika, who started the game as the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals, converted two penalty corners in the final quarter to take her personal goals tally to double digits and cap off yet another dominating win for India.