China claimed its third gold hockey medal in a row in the Asian Games at Guangzhou on Wednesday, writes Mr S.Thyagarajan. In a final that was absorbing from start to finish, China prevailed over South Korea in the tie-breaker 5-4 after the teams were locked in a 0-0 draw at the regulation time and extra time.
It was an evenly contested match with both teams playing with lot of caution. The Koreans were a shade better in the first half, but China wrested the initiative in the second half and dominated. There were several thrilling moments for both the teams ad the crowds enjoyed every bit of it.
Japan claimed the bronze medal with a solitary golden goal scored by Keiko Manabe against India.
Japan was the silver medalist in the last Asiad at Doha and India was the bronze medal winner.
In a slow paced contest—both teams appeared weary after six earlier matches—neither team could push in the advantage. Japan forced as many as 10 penalty corners in the match against the two by the Indians. But the Japanese could not stream into the attack with the intensity required to score.
India’s goal-keeper, Dipika Murty, came up with a few good saves in penalty corners executed well by Ai Murakami. However, a penalty corner sequence in the first half of extra time ended in the golden goal pushing India out of a possible podium finish.
The medals were presented by Sultan Azlan Shah, President, Asian Hockey Federation.
The results
(Final) China beat South Korea 5-4.
China 0 (tie breaker 5 (Ma Yibo, Song Qingling, Fu Baorong, Zhao Yudiao, Sun Sinen) beat South Korea 0 (tie braker- Kim Bom Mi, Lee Seon Ok, Kim Youngran, Kim Jong Sun) HT 0-0.
(3-4) Japan 1 (Keiko Manabe, GG) beat India 0 HT 0-0.
5-6: Malaysia 3(Siti Noor, Rahman Nadia, Silin Fazillia) beat Thailand 0 HT 2-0
Final placings: 1.China, 2.South Korea, 3.Japan, 4.India, 5.Malaysia, 6.Thailand, 7.Kazakhstan.
Thursday’s matches: Men: (9-10) Hong Kong China v Singapore); (7-8) Oman v Bangladesh ;(5-6): China v Japan (3-4) India v Korea ;final: Pakistan v Malaysia .
