A last minute strike from Deepika gave India’s Eves their first ever Women’s Asian Champions Trophy title, defeating China 2-1 in Saturday’s competition final at the Sengkang Hockey Stadium in Singapore.
The win meant that India’s women matched the achievements of their male counterparts, who claimed the QNET Men’s Asian Champions Trophy in Kunatan, Malaysia last week.
It was the second time in the four editions of the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy that India had reached the event final, with their 2016 gold medal adding to the silver that the collected in 2013 when they were beaten 1-0 in Kakamigahara by hosts Japan. The Eves also have a bronze medal from 2010, with China also the defeated opponents that year.
China and India secured their respective places in the gold medal match by claiming the top two league positions following at the completion of the round-robin phase. China defeated India 3-2 to seal a first place finish, but the outcome of the rematch proved to be entirely different.
India opened the match scoring thanks to Deep Ekka’s field goal in the 13th minute of match, but China hit back to level the scoring through Zhong Mengling shortly before the end of the third quarter.
Deepika’s winner arrived with just 20 seconds of the match remaining, as the striker kept her cool to see the win and trigger celebrations amongst her team-mates. It was her fourth goal of the tournament, ensuring that she finished the event as competition top scorer.
The title success was an impressive achievement for 12th ranked India, who came into the event placed below China (WR: 8), Korea (WR: 9) and Japan (WR: 10) in the FIH Hero World Rankings, suggesting that the team are making great strides forward under the directorship of Head Coach and former Australian international Neil Hawgood.
In the match for third-fourth placing, Japan also left it late before coming back from a goal down to defeat rivals Korea 2-1. Team captain Maki Sakaguchi proved to be the hero, scoring inside the final 60 seconds to give the Cherry Blossoms the victory.
More information about both events can be found on www.asiahockey.org.
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