China lose heart, win match

China earned 12 penalty corners in the game, including four in the first half, while Kazakhstan had five. In fact, the Kazakh girls started on a positive note forcing two penalty corners in first five minutes, but the Chinese regrouped to control the game.

For China, forwards Yang Huiping, Yu Yali, Zhou Wenfeng and Hou Ziaolan troubled the lethargic Kazakh defenders all through, but the Kazakh goalkeeper Sumkina had a good game. She denied the Chinese on several occasions, displaying good agility during penalty-corner sequences.

China’s first goal came off their first penalty-corner, when Chen Zhaoxin got a touch to Cheng Hui’s hit in the 14th minute. And even before the Kazakhs could recover, Yu Yali made it 2-0, sending a cracker past Sumkina on a pass from the left.

The Chinese kept on pressing and found their third goal when Hou Xiaolan scored. In between. the Chinese fumbled with two penalty corners, and got lucky with their fourth — at the stroke of half time hooter — Yali scoring in an indirect try.

In the second session, China forced eight penalty corners that proved inconclusive. However, they managed to get their fifth goal when Weng Jiuyan scored in a counter-attack.

With today’s win, China accumulated nine points to finsh third on the league table.

Thursday’s matches: Malaysia vs Kazakhstan (for 5th place), China vs Japan (for 3rd place)