South Korean Women defeat India 4-1 in Asian Champions Trophy – Hockey Update
Seul Ki Cheon was the real hero of the victory and scored twice, as the Women’s hockey team of Korea powered a convincing 4-1 victory over India in the first round match of the Asian Champions Trophy played at the Ordos Hockey Stadium in China on September
4.
CR Kumar, the coach of the Indian team was not satisfied with the performance and expressed disappointment over the failures. He further commented that they earned many chances but failed to convert them into successful scores. The Women’s trainer said,
“We missed too many chances. Against a higher ranked team like Korea you have to take the chances otherwise they will come back stronger. I think those are the two areas we need to work on. Once we put in that effort we can play with consistency throughout
the match.”
Kumar continued saying that the Indians had completely failed to score off short corners which changed the result. The Indian team could only score one goal out of total five short corners in the match. He declared the penalty corner department completely
failing and said, “It's not good enough. But the girls are trying and I think they would improve in the coming matches.”
The trainer was of the opinion that the Indian team will have to put in more effort in order to improve their game as per the international standards.
Amazingly, the Indian did not learn a lesson from the Men’s squad that started the campaign on a high note with a five-goal victory. Dissimilar to the end results, the Indians displayed an impressive show in the first fifteen minutes of the match. They not
only accomplished plenty of attacks but also blocked many strikes from the other side.
However, the Indian team failed to maintain their confidence level and came under pressure in the hands of the Koreans. After missing many efforts, Jong Eun Kim scored the first goal of the day through a decent field effort. Kim held the ball under her stick,
drove it into the 25-yard line of India and volleyed a powerful shot into the cage giving no chance to Indian custodian to stop the hit. It was the point which further downed the morale of the Indian team. Interestingly, it was the only goal of the first half
and Korea was hanging onto a single-goal lead at the end of the first period, 1-0.
Mi Hyun Park notched a goal in the 37th minute while her team-mate Seul Ki Cheon scored two goals respectively in the 55th and 69th minutes and took the score up to four goals. Joydeep Kaur scored the only goal of the game
for India on the fifth short corner and reduced the lead down to three goals. However, they lost the match 4-1.
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