New Delhi, Dec 4: Japan were no pushovers, after all. They played with gumption and fire today, giving the Indian confidence a bit of a jolt at the National Stadium here. The gritty girls from the Land of Rising Sun not only deprived India of two vital points in their 2-2 draw in the Hero Honda Asia Cup women's hockey tournament, but also forced the door to the final wide open.Earlier, South Korea played below par to get the better of Malaysia 5-1.Coach Bhangu's strategy to attack more from the right failed to click. ``Japan are strong on their right so we decided to attack from our right,'' the disappointed coach said after the match. Yet, this ploy made little sense as a majority of India's 17 goals in this tournament came from the left. Anyway, with left-half Ferdina Ekka slightly off-colour and outside-left Suraj Lata Devi playing more as a centre-forward, the vaunted `right' of Japan was not tested at all.The other grey area from India's point of view was the poor conversion of penalty corners. They earned as many as 12, and converted two. India took the lead in the fifth minute when captain Sita Gussain converted the first penalty corner in an indirect sequence. Japan got lucky with their third when Miura's hit caught the stick of Aki Matsui and flew into the net.India's second goal came in the 50th minute as Pritam got a touch in a melee, off their eighth penalty corner. But Japan equalised again, when umpire Peri Buckley awarded them a stroke penalising substitute goalkeeper Helen Mary for an infringement on Toshie Tsukui. Captain Iwao calmly pushed to the left of a rooted Mary.In the morning match, South Korea scored five-in-a-row after Malaysia surprised them with Mary Along's goal. Jin Hyuk Bang (2), Seung Shin Oh, Mi Hyun Kim and Soo Jung Kim scored.SUNDAY'S MATCHES: S Korea vs KAzakhstan 1.00 pm; India vs China 3.00pm.
