The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : China lifts Junior Asia Cup

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Friday, Nov 05, 2004

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Sport - Hockey

China lifts Junior Asia Cup

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

The Chinese team which won the Junior Asia Cup women's hockey title. — Photo: Satish H.

HYDERABAD, NOV. 4. China won the Junior Asia Cup women's (under-21) hockey championship for the first time surprising the defending champion South Korea 3-2 in a golden goal rule in the final at Gachibowli Hockey Complex here today.

The start was pretty impressive for the Koreans as they clearly dominated most of the first-half with captain Lee Yeon Hee, Kim Da Rae and Eum Mi Young working in tandem. They made their intentions clear very early earning the first penalty-corner in the fourth minute.

And, expectedly Koreans took the lead in the 15th minute when Kim Jong Eun latched on to a perfect minus from the left by Jeong Jin Ok to find the target. However, to their chagrin, it saw a rejuvenated Chinese give a real tough fight. And they almost scored the equaliser in the 27th minute when the ever-trying Cheng Jia Yan's angular hit from the right of `D' just sailed over the bar.

Meanwhile, there was avoidable frustration in the Korean camp with the Chinese defence manned by Li Li Wen and Chen Li Zhu being more organised. Consequently, Park Young Soon was shown the yellow card. Even before Koreans could recover from this, China scored the equaliser through a lovely one-to-one effort by Jin Yue and Li Hong Xia.

The former essayed a delectable through pass even as the defence was swooping on her only to see her team-mate position herself perfectly in front of the goalline and in turn relay a swift short pass to Cheng Jia Yan to tap the ball in.

The second-half saw a see-saw battle for supremacy. And there was little to choose between the teams as action swung from one half to the other with regularity. A phase which also saw China's Zhang Chun Hong earn an yellow card. Soon, South Korea took the lead in the 37th minute when Athens Olympian Park Mi Hyun deflected a penalty-corner hit from Oh Sun Soon.

Counter-attack

The Chinese launched a series of counter-attacks with Li Dan Ping and Cheng Jian Yan showing enterprise on the flanks. The equaliser came in the 46th minute when Chen Li Zhu essayed a splendid cross from the right to Sun Zhen who made no mistake to complete her good anticipatory run with a swift push into the goal. At the stroke of final whistle, Korea did earn a penalty-corner and a chance to win the match, but failed to convert, as the Chinese goalkeeper Pan Feng Zhen was equal to the task.

With the scores tied two-all at the end of regulation time, golden goal rule was applied. For the first nine minutes, it was a Korean show earning three penalty-corners. But poor finishing saw them miss a couple of real good scoring chances. Then Korean captain Lee Yeion Hee committed a foul that ultimately cost them the cup. In the 11th minute of extra time, she committed a foul — stick-checking an advancing Cheng Jian Yan inside the `D' which prompted the referee Dawn Hemming point to the `spot'. There was not even a murmur of protest for the Koreans who knew it was like a death knell and expectedly China's Li Li Wen put the ball in to trigger a wave of celebrations in her camp.

India wins

Earlier, smiles were back on Indian faces after three straight defeats as the host defeated Japan 2-0 to take third position in the championship. India shot into lead in the third minute when Fulmoni Soy capitalised on a weak collection by the custodian of a reverse hit from Deepika who in fact trapped the free-hit taken by her captain Subhadhra Pradhan from the left-corner. In the second session, Deepika deflected a penalty-corner hit taken to make it 2-0 in the 69th minute.

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