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The India women's hockey team were only able to record a draw against Japan in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup. Though this result knocked Japan out of the tournament, India weren't able to book their place in the final thanks to it. After taking the lead in the seventh minute, India led for the majority of the match, but ended up conceding a late 58th minute equalizer.
Their hopes of reaching the final now rest on the clash between China and Korea. China, who have already qualified for the final, need to either beat Korea or avoid a defeat by less than a margin of two goals, in order for India to secure a place in the final. Though it may be quite a tough task for them, Korea are still very much in the fight for making it to the final.
India had a great start against Japan
Coming to the match between India and Japan, the former started the match on a strong note as Beauty Dung Dung provided them with an important lead in the seventh minute. She deflected Neha's shot into the net to open the scoring for India. The first quarter would end with with India carrying the slim lead and the scoreline wouldn't change at half-time either.
Both the second and third quarters were very evenly-contested with both the teams looking to bring a change to the scoreline. However, it was the fourth quarter where Japan really took things up a notch and started relentlessly attacking at India's goal. Though the latter put the pressure back by winning multiple penalty-corners, Japan managed to open their account for the game and scored a late equalizer in the 58th minute through Shiho Kobayakawa. However, this goal wouldn't prove to be enough for the Japanese as they needed to win in order to remain in the competition.
The final scoreline would be 1-1 with Japan getting eliminated from the Asia Cup, but India also not being confirmed of a spot in the final. It remains to be seen what will be the result of the match between China and Korea and if India will be able to book a place in the final or not.
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