Thursday was Semi Final day at the 8th Women’s Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur, and the Malaysian capital city was treated to a brace of classic encounters between the four finest teams in the continent.
Korea were forced to produce their very best hockey to see off India, battling to a narrow 2-1 victory over the Eves. Korea started the match in electric fashion, netting two goals in the opening ten minutes from Cheon Seul Ki and Cheon Eun Bi. India grew stronger as the match progressed and reduced the deficit when Eves captain Ritu Rani netted a penalty corner with 13 minutes remaining. However, typically resilient defending from Korea ensured that they would take the victory and seal their place in the final.
Korea’s opponents in the championship match will be Japan, who produced a simply staggering display to outclass China 4-1. China went into the contest as heavy favourites thanks to their dominance of Pool A, but Japan turned the form book on its head with a truly outstanding performance. First half field goals from Mazuki Arai and Akane Shibata were complemented by penalty corners from Shiho Otsuka and Aki Mitsuhashi before China scored a 52nd minute consolation through Peng Yang.
The 8th Women’s Asia Cup draws to a close on Friday, with the classification, Bronze medal and Gold medal matches all taking place. Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong China will play in the 7-8 classification game before Kazakhstan face host nation Malaysia for fifth. India and China will go head-to-head in the Bronze medal game ahead of the championship decider between Korea and Japan.
To keep fully up to speed on the action from the Asia Cup, keep an eye on the following locations.
Official website: www.8thwomensasiacup.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/8thwomensasiacup
Twitter: www.twitter.com/womensasiacup13
The winners of the Asia Cup competition will seal direct qualification to the 2014 Rabobank Hockey World Cup in The Hague, Netherlands. A number of the teams involved have already secured a spot at next year’s showpiece thanks to strong showings at the Hockey World League Semi Finals. If an already qualified nation becomes continental champion, this will open the door to the nations who finished outside the top three at the Hockey World League Semi Finals. To see who has qualified so far and exactly how they got there, you can see our simple guide by clicking the links below.
