The Indian women's hockey team secured a convincing 4-0 victory against defending champion Japan in the final of Jharkhand Women's Asian Champions Trophy Ranchi 2023 being played at Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Hockey Stadium here on Sunday.
The Indian team were in in the dominating position from the start of the game. In the first quarter both India and Japan were struggling to score goal, but in the second quarter the Indian team were successful in scoring goal. In third quarter Indian team took a lead by 2-0. The two goals were made in the fourth quarter with Indian women team winning the game with 4-0.
The daughters of Jharkhand had a big contribution in making India victorious. According to the match statistics, Sangeeta has scored six goals, while Salima Tete has scored four goals in the matches so far.
On the occasion of the inauguration of the match, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Asian Hockey Federation President Dilip Tirkey and other officials encouraged the players.
There was an interesting contest between China and Korea for the third and fourth places in the Jharkhand Women's Asian Championship Trophy 2023 on Sunday. In the very first quarter of the match, Yi Chen scored a goal for China and gave her team the lead over Korea. After this, both the teams kept attacking each other in the second quarter but did not get success.
In the third quarter, Sujin A. scored for Korea in the 38th minute of the match. Sujin scored a goal and made the difference 1-1. In the fourth quarter, Tintish Leo scored a goal for China to give 2-1 lead. The lead was maintained till last quarter of the game with China defeating Korea by 2-1 and securing the third place in the tournament. In the tournament for the fifth position, Malaysia defeated Thailand 1-0.
Meanwhile, there was tremendous excitement and passion among the spectators to watch India clash with Japan in the final match of the Women's Asian Champions Trophy. Ranchi's love for hockey was extraordinary. Long queue of spectators started gathering outside the stadium from 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The spectators were also eager for the match between China and Korea for the third and fourth place from 6 pm. It showed that Ranchi is an amazing city in the level of dedication towards this game.
Both teams secured their places in the championship match by winning their respective semi-final matches held on Saturday at the Birsa Munda AstroTurf Hockey Stadium here.
In the first semi-final, Japan defeated China 2-1, while in the second semi-final, India beat Korea 2-0.
In this tournament, featuring six teams, including the host India, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand, the round-robin league phase was followed by the top 4 teams qualifying for the semi-finals. India is seeking its first championship title since 2016. The Indian team had previously won silver medals in 2013 and 2018.