The second round of pool matches in the women’s competition of the Asian Games Incheon 2014 saw China and Korea confirm their places in the semi-finals on Wednesday (24 September) with wins over India and Japan respectively. Kazakhstan cruised past Hong Kong, and Malaysia secured three points against a fiercely fighting Thai team.
The big game of the day was between Japan and Korea. The Korean team was optimally prepared, neutralising the Japanese attacks early, while attacking with speed. Korea were able to score two early goals before the Japanese got their feet on the ground, including Oh Sunsoon’s fourth of the competition, making her the leading goalscorer. Later in the game, Japan were better able to ward off the Korean attacks, but couldn’t find the net. With this win, Korea are already confirmed semi-finalists before their last match, which was reflected in coach Han Jin Soo’s comments after the match: “More goals would have been better, but we played well, so I’m happy. Now I’m already focused on the semi-finals, we don’t know our opponent yet, but we will prepare thoroughly.”
In the other pairing of high-ranked teams, China locked horns with India. In a thrilling match, India locked their opponents down effectively until China increased the pressure significantly in the last minutes of the match despite being a player down due to a yellow card. A mistake in the Indian defence resulted in an easy turnover that led to a charge down the field which allowed Zhao Yudiao to net the winning goal. Expressing his happiness about his own team’s performance, China’s coach You Baodong was very complimentary of the Indian contingent as well, saying: “India played very well, their tactics were good, and their individual skills are excellent. They have become a real challenge for us in Asia and have improved very much since the Commonwealth Games.”
Malaysia entered the match against Thailand with their eyes set on a big goal difference in order to get in the best possible position before their match against India, which will be a direct battle for the remaining place in the semi-finals. But it was not to be against a bravely battling Thai team, and completely focused on scoring up front and putting everything into attack, the Malaysian team even ended up conceding a late goal at the hands of Tikhamporn Sakunpithak, Thailand’s only goal in their two matches so far. Weak finishing and a number of missed chances mean that Malaysia now need to defeat India if they want to make the semi-final, and coach Md Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim called today’s result “a wake-up call” for his players.
Earlier in the day, Kazakhstan had scored their first goals and won their first points against Hong Kong. Starting in the 10th minute, Kazakhstan scored at a steady pace and controlled the game well, not allowing Hong Kong much space, for a 5-0 final scoreline.
The 2014 Asian Games, officially known as the XVII Asiad, is the biggest sporting event held in Asia and is widely recognised as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games. The event is held every four years, with Hockey being one of 36 different sports set to feature in the Games. The Hockey competition in Incheon will be the biggest in the history of the Games, with ten men’s and eight women’s teams all battling it out for glory and Olympic qualification at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium.
The tournament - which offers a place at the Rio 2016 Olympic games to the men’s and women’s Gold medallists - is the first major international hockey competition to feature the groundbreaking 60 minute format, with the sport moving from two halves of 35 minutes to four 15-minute quarters with 40-second time-outs when a penalty corner is awarded and after a goal is scored.
The additional time-outs for penalty corners and after goals ensures that the new 60-minute format is actual playing time, eliminating the dead time associated with penalty corner set up while also allowing for teams to enjoy their goal celebrations. To learn more about the rule changes, click here.
Results
Wednesday, 24 September 2014 – Women
Kazakhstan – Hong Kong 5-0 (3-0)
Malaysia – Thailand 2-1 (2-0)
India – China 1-2 (1-1)
Japan – Korea 0-2 (0-2)
To keep up with the hockey in Incheon, join us at http://www.asiahockey.org/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/asiahockey and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/asia_hockey. To find out more about all the action at the Asian Games Incheon 2014, please visit the official event website http://www.incheon2014ag.org/index.
