India beat South Korea to win first ever Women’s Junior Asia Cup hockey title

Kakamigahara. India lifted the Women’s Junior Hockey Asia Cup title for the first time by defeating four-time champions South Korea 2-1 here on Sunday. Anu and Neelam scored for India while Park Seo Yeon scored the lone goal for Korea. After a goalless first quarter, India took the lead in the 22nd minute through Anu’s penalty corner goal. Putting behind the disappointment of the semi-final against Japan, Anu fired past the left of the goalkeeper to put India ahead 1-0. However, South Korea made it 1-1 three minutes later thanks to a goal by Park Seo Yeon.

Neelam put India ahead 2-1 in the 41st minute, which proved to be the decisive score, from the right side of the South Korean goalkeeper. The Indian team then retained their lead in the last quarter and registered a win. South Korea had many chances to score in the form of penalty corners but the team could not take advantage of it. Earlier, India’s best performance in the Women’s Junior Asia Cup was in 2012 when the team reached the final for the first time in Bangkok but lost 2-5 to China. Indian skipper Preity, who was adjudged player of the match, said she had chalked out her strategy for the tie after playing out a 1-1 draw against Korea in the round-robin stage.

“We were well aware of the specific areas we needed to work on in order to beat Korea,” she said. “We were nervous about the final. However, we knew that to achieve something special, we would have to be at our best as a team. And we did just that. We are happy to have made our country proud. India started aggressively in the match. The team got a penalty corner in the very first minute but the Indian team could not take advantage of it. South Korea, however, found the rhythm in their counter-attacks and kept possession of the ball for most of the time.

Korea also got a penalty corner but Neelam kept the ball from going into the goal at the last moment. The first quarter remained goalless despite both the teams adopting an aggressive approach. South Korea also put India on the backfoot by adopting an aggressive approach in the second quarter. Korea got a few penalty corners but the team failed to break through India’s strong defence. Anu then converted the penalty stroke to give India the lead. India’s happiness, however, was short-lived as Seo Yeon equalized for Korea with a precise shot from inside the ‘D’. The score remained 1-1 at halftime. In the second half, India went on the counter-attack and it paid off when Neelam converted a penalty corner to make it 2-1.

India then focused more on defense and retained the lead and registered a win. Hockey India announced a cash award of Rs 2 lakh to each player of the title-winning team while Rs 1 lakh to each member of the support staff. India remained unbeaten in the tournament and also made it to the Women’s Junior World Cup 2023 to be held in Chile this year. Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey said, “We are extremely proud that the Indian junior women’s team has won the Junior Asia Cup title for the first time.” Will serve as a strong foundation.

Disclaimer:IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.

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