Aichi-Nagoya (Japan): The Indian women's hockey team won the gold medal in the Asian Games, ending a wait of 44 years. Salima Tete's team defeated defending champion China 1-0 on Sunday. Lalremsiami's goal in the 10th minute and the brilliant defense of experienced goalkeeper Savita Poonia played an important role in India's victory. With this gold, the Indian team also got the ticket for the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics.
Lalremsiami's wonder in the 200th match
Lalremsiami, playing her 200th international match for India, gave the team a 1-0 lead by scoring a goal in the 10th minute of the match. India got their first penalty corner in the 13th minute, but Navneet Kaur's slap hit went wide of the target.
China got a penalty corner in the 18th minute. However, Indian players already sensed China's strategy and foiled its attempt.
Savita saved the goal on penalty stroke
In the 24th minute, China got a penalty stroke after a mistake by Lalremsiami. China had a golden opportunity to level the score, but Indian captain and experienced goalkeeper Savita Punia stopped the ball with a brilliant dive on the left side.
After this, the Indian defense strongly faced the continuous attacks of China. Ishika Chaudhary, Baljeet Kaur and Sushila Chanu did not give the Chinese players a chance to play freely. Along with goalkeeper Savita, Bichu Devi also performed brilliantly and strengthened the defence.
China got opportunities, but Indian defense did not go ahead
In the third and fourth quarters, China put pressure on the Indian goalpost several times and created equal chances, but failed to penetrate the Indian defence. Ultimately India captured the gold medal by maintaining a 1-0 lead.
China won the silver medal, while Japan won the bronze medal after defeating Korea in a shootout.
Asian Games gold comes again in women's hockey after 1982
The Indian women's hockey team had earlier won the gold medal in the Asian Games held in Delhi in 1982. That edition marked the first time that women's hockey was included in the Asian Games. After this, now the Indian team has again won the gold medal after 44 years.
Buses stuck in traffic, competition started one hour late
The final match started about an hour behind schedule due to the Indian team buses getting stuck in traffic. As soon as the match started, Indian players adopted an aggressive stance and kept pressure on China from the beginning.
Earlier, in the World Cup held in Netherlands and Belgium last month, the match between India and China was a 2-2 draw. This time the Indian team won the gold medal by defeating China in the final.
Hockey India announced cash prize
After the historic win, Hockey India announced a cash prize for the team. According to the information shared on X, each player of the team will be given a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh and each support staff member will be given a cash prize of Rs 5.5 lakh.
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