The in-form Indian women’s hockey team placed itself on the verge of ending a 44-year wait for an Asian Games gold, beating South Korea 2-0 to enter the final of the continental showpiece here on Wednesday.
Ishika Chaudhary (44th minute) and skipper Salima Tete (48th) were the goal scorers for India. India are now just a victory away from securing its only second Asian Games women’s hockey gold medal. The previous triumph came way back in the 1982 New Delhi games. India will take on defending champions China in the final on Friday. China beat Japan 4-2 in a shoot-out after both sides failed to break the deadlock in the entire 60 minutes of the first semifinal.
South Korea will face Japan in the bronze medal match.
The Indians dominated the proceedings in the first two quarters and secured as many as eight penalty corners, but the Koreans produced a resolute defence to deny their opponents.
The play mostly took place inside the Korean half as India attacked in numbers from the onset and secured their first penalty corner in the second minute, but Deepika’s flick was brilliantly saved by Korean goalkeeper Seoyeon Lee.
India secured another set piece, but Navneet Kaur faltered this time. The Korean custodian made a brilliant save again in the 13th minute to keep out a deflection by Rutuja Pisal from a long ball. It was raining penalty corners for India as a minute into the second quarter, three more of them came but failed to breach the Korean defence. Agencies