Indian eves reach Asia Cup finals, book 2010 World Cup berth

Bangkok: It was a double delight for the Indian women’s hockey team as they edged out Korea 3-2 to sail into the Asia Cup final, which also assured them a berth in the 2010 World Cup in Argentina.

Jasjeet Kaur struck twice and Rani Ramphal also found the net to put India 3-0 ahead in the semifinal before the Koreans mounted waves of attacks and twice breached the defence to inject fresh drama in the match that, at one stage, had threatened to be a lop-sided affair. In Sunday’s summit clash, India will lock horns with China, who beat Japan by a solitary goal scored by Zhou Yu Diao. With Friday’s win at the Queen Sikirit sports Centre, the Indian eves qualified for the 2010 World Cup to be held in Rosario, Argentina.After missing a one-to-one situation, Saba Anjum earned India’s first penalty corner and Jasjeet’s powerful drag-flick put India ahead in the eighth minute. India could not make any further dent on the Korean defence but Jasjeet again scored a peach of a goal early in the second half to give India a 2-0 lead. Rani later latched on to a midfield pass to score an athletic goal and India were cruising at 3-0 in the 55th minutes. To their credit, Korea did not throw in the towel. Instead, struck twice to make a match of it. The Indians survived some torrid moments as Korea forced two penalty corners at the stroke of hooter but the gritty Indian defence managed to thwart both to keep their lead intact. India got a number of chances in the match but it did not bear fruit because of poor finishing by the forwards. Midway through first half, Saba and Surinder Kaur set up Rani Ramphal only to see her effecting a feeble shot. On another occasion, Rani’s sliding shot was well anticipated by the rival goalie Young Hui Moon. With neat interception and tight marking, India dominated the first half. Korea did win three penalty corners in succession, but the usually sharp Seul Ki Cheon was rendered ineffective by the Indian defenders. Goalie Deepkia Murthy stopped two rebounds and the other one was saved on the line by alert Ritu Rani. Indian coach MK Kaushik was a happy man after the fine performance by his wards. “I am all the more happy because the team almost translated 80 per cent of my instructions on the field,” he said after the match. Incidentally, Kaushik was the coach when India last played in the Asia Cup finals in New Delhi which ensured India’s participation in the Madrid Women’s World Cup. Captain Surinder Kaur attributed her side’s semifinal victory over Korea to team work and hard-training. “Korea are a strong team and we expected each player to give their best and understand their responsibility. Unless everybody measures up to their role, we cannot achieve success. Today, everyone of us in the team delivered,” a beaming Surinder said. “It’s fruit of our hard training. We had trained for this match for a long time and could apply those in the match. I am happy we could send India a good name from here,” added Surinder, who will be playing her third Asia cup final on Sunday. Senior member of the team, Mamta Kharab, who was part of the previous three Asia Cup campaigns, also credited the whole team for the success. “It is a good sign as all the junior players too did their best. It is 100 per cent from everybody in the team,” she said. “When were under the pressure in the last quarter, we tried our level best to release the pressure. We did not give up, though we felt the strain,” Mamta relived the final moments in which Korea got two penalty corners. She said the team spent for a two-hour video session on Wednesday in preparing the strategy for the semifinal and spent another session on discussion last night. “As a team, we have now understood how much video analysis is important. We could make out our mistakes and those of the rivals which helps us to plan better on the field,” Mamta said. Bureau Report