Women’s Asia Cup | India beat Japan 4-2 to enter first Asia Cup final since 2009

Women’s Asia Cup | India beat Japan 4-2 to enter first Asia Cup final since 2009

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Written by: SportsCafe Desk

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The Indian women’s team has entered the final of the 2017 Asia Cup, getting the better of defending champions Japan 4-2 in a hard-fought semi-final match on Friday. The final will be a rematch of the 2009 Asia Cup final between India and China – the last time India reached the finals of the event.

After some clinical performances throughout the tournament, India started as the favourites in the semi-final against the hosts and living up to the billing, Gurjit Kaur opened the scoring for India in the seventh minute of the game by converting a penalty corner. The Indian eves didn’t take their foot off the pedal and Kaur doubled the score after two minutes to give India the early initiative and Navjot Kaur scored one more to give a 3-0 lead in no time. 

Japan, though, didn’t sit idle for too long and recovered from a three-goal deficit to make it 2-3 at half-time as Shiho Tsuji opened Japan's account in the 17th minute and Yui Ishibashi scored once more a field goal 11 minutes later. However, the third-quarter saw the Indians firing on all cylinders as Lalremsiami scored her first goal of the tournament to take India to 4-2. The defenders didn’t allow the hosts to add to the scoreline and helped India reach the finals after eight long years.

The Indian women have been extremely impressive throughout the tour and entered the knockout stage following wins over Singapore (10-0), China (4-1) and Malaysia (2-0) to top their pool, and on Thursday defeated Kazakhstan (7-1) in the quarter-final.

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