Cock-a-hoop: The Indian gamers are a cheerful bunch after blanking Malaysia 5-0.
| Photo Credit: PTI
India put up a significantly better efficiency for a convincing 5-0 victory over Malaysia in its second outing on the Jharkand Women’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey right here on Saturday.
Even although penalty nook conversions continued to be a drag on the staff’s general efficiency, the Indian facet was much more cohesive and sharp within the discipline than on Friday and it confirmed within the physique language as nicely.
The Indians have been confident, the trapping was clear and there was extra objective to the assault, all introduced collectively by the brilliance of player-of-the-match Vandana Katariya who struck two objectives of her personal and created the house and alternatives for extra.
India began on a a lot stronger footing, incomes back-to-back penalty corners within the sixth and seventh minutes, Vandana deflecting within the latter from the left for an early lead.
She made it 2-0 in a similar way, this time positioned on the proper simply in entrance of the far publish within the twenty first minute.
Two objectives inside a minute — native favourites Salima Tete and Sangita Kumari mixed for a superb third and Lalremsiami made it 4-0 — meant India went into half time sitting fairly on high.
Malaysia, which caught to a defensive recreation hoping for counter-attacking alternatives, discovered it not possible to interrupt the Indian shackles or match the host’s tempo.
The second half was a relatively sedate affair and regardless of controlling the sport, dictating the tempo and incomes a collection of penalty corners, India was in a position so as to add just one extra to its tally, one thing coach Janneke Schopman admitted “was annoying”. But with the 2 lower-ranked sides out of the best way, the true take a look at for India within the event begins now.
Hat-trick by China’s Zhong
In different video games, Japan recovered from a listless efficiency on Friday for a dominating 4-0 win over Korea whereas Asian Games champion China rode on a hat-trick by Jiaqi Zhong to register a complete 6-0 victory in opposition to Thailand.
The outcomes:
Japan 4 (Aimi Kobayashi, Yuri Nagai, Miyu Hasegawa, Mai Toriyama) bt Korea 0.
China 6 (Jiaqi Zhong 3, Ning Ma, Zixia Ou, Wen Dan) bt Thailand 0.
India 5 (Vandana Katariya 2, Sangita Kumari, Lalremsiami, Jyoti) bt Malaysia 0.
