Indian women’s junior hockey team creates history
They achieved a remarkable 2-1 victory against South Korea, a team that had previously won the tournament four times.
The Indian women junior hockey team won their maiden title in Kakamigahara, Japan as they defeated South Korea in a close match by 2-1 on Sunday. This is the first time India has won the Women’s Junior Asia Cup.
Annu (21′) and Neelam (40′) were on target for India while Seoyeon Park (24′) scored the only goal for South Korea.
India took the lead in the second quarter as Annu converted a penalty stroke. However, the lead didn’t last long as Seoyeon Park equalised for Korea via a field goal. Both teams went into half-time with the scores equal at 1-1.
India resorted to a counter-attacking style of play while letting South Korea have the majority of the possession. The tactics paid off as India took the lead through a penalty corner which was converted by Neelam. After taking the lead, India yet again switched their style of play and completely went on to a defensive mode, kept possession, and controlled the tempo in the fourth quarter to shut out the Korean attack and forcing errors and misdirected passes from them.
Ultimately, India kept their composure and won the tough match making a name for themselves in the history books. Hockey India declared a cash prize of 2 lakh rupees for every player and 1 lakh for the support staff as a token of appreciation.
PM Modi also took to Twitter to congratulate the Indian team.
