junior asia cup 2024
Defending champions India suffered a 1-2 defeat to three-time winners China in their third match of the Women’s Junior Asia Cup in Muscat on Wednesday. The match was a repeat of the 2012 final in which India dominated the first two quarters by creating chances. But the team could not score any goal. China showed aggression in the third quarter in which captain Tan Jinzhuang (32nd) scored a penalty stroke and Wang Lihang (42nd) converted a penalty corner to give his team a decisive lead.
Deepika, the tournament’s top goal scorer for India, reduced the margin of defeat by scoring a goal in the 56th minute. China topped Pool A with nine points while India tied with Malaysia for second place with six points. India will face Thailand in their fourth and final league match on Thursday. The defending champions had earlier registered impressive wins in their first two matches of the five-team tournament, defeating Bangladesh 13-1 and Malaysia 5-0. The semi-finals will be held on Saturday while the final will be held on Sunday. India had won the title by defeating South Korea 2-1 in the previous stage held in Japan.
India had made a great start
Two days before this match, India had registered its second consecutive win by defeating Malaysia 5-0 on December 9 with Deepika scoring a hat-trick goal. This was India’s third consecutive win over Malaysia in the history of the tournament. The team had earlier won 9-1 in 2015 and 2-1 in 2023. At the same time, India had made a great start to its campaign in the Women’s Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament by defeating Bangladesh 13-1 in its first match of the tournament on 8 December.
(Inputs- PTI)
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