Asian Games: India's gold medal dream in women's hockey ends in agony, lose to China 0-4 in semifinal
India endured a forgettable 0-4 drubbing at the hands of China in the women's hockey semifinals, a result that not only pushed the team out of the gold medal race but also denied it a direct entry to the Paris Olympics. Last edition's silver medallist India, the highest-ranked team in the tournament at world number seven, was no match to world number China, who were the bronze medallist in 2018 in Jakarta.
Jiaqi Zhong (25th minute), Meirong Zou (40th), Meiyu Liang (55th) and Bingfeng Gu (60th) scored the goals for China.
China started on an attacking note put pressure on the Indian defence from the start.
The Chinese managed to enter their opponent's circle on frequent basis but failed to find the back of the net as the Indians defended stoutly.
China's relentless pressure resulted in back-to-back penalty corners in the sixth minute but failed to get past India captain Savita in front of the goal.
The Indians made a few circle entries but failed to yield any results from them.
The Chinese secured another penalty corner in the 11th minute but once again Savita came to her side's rescue.
Three minutes into the second quarter China earned another penalty corner but Bingfeng Gu's flick was saved by Savita.
The Indians looked completely out of sorts as the Chinese continued their domination.
The coordination between the midfield and forwadline was completely missing as India failed to create any clear cut scoring chance.
China, on the other hand, earned their fifth penalty corner in the 25th minute and Zhong made no mistake to hand the hosts the slender lead at half-time.
