India stumble twice at stroke of victory

First, Yali intercepted a Manjinder scoop after umpire Angela Lario awarded a stroke when Yang Hongbin took Pritam’s goal-bound hit on her right thigh in the 13th minute. Then, Lario gave India another lease of life in the 31st minute when she penalised Yali for trying to tackle Pritam frombehind.

However, The Great Wall of China was not perturbed. She calmly palmed away a hard push by Indian captain Sita Gussain, diving to her right.

Coach Gurdyal Singh Bhangu had no answers at the end. “What can you say if the girls succumb to pressure? I had asked Sita to take a low hit to the left,” he said after the match.

Pressure did get India’s goat, but even Bhangu would accept that China played a better tactical game. While India did most of the attacking, China waited for their chances, trying to control the midfield. After the two strokes were frittered away, India lost their way.

India did try to get their left flank moving in the first session, but inevitably settled into yesterday’s pattern, trying to build attacks from the right, hardly troubling China.

As for penalty corners, India earned five, but when strokes go abegging, it is too much to expect conversions from corners.

It was a letdown for the Sunday crowd in many ways, and also for the coach as the Indians had defeated China2-1 in the Bangkok Asian Games last year.With their second consecutive draw, India now have eight points from four matches and are second on the board, South Korea leading with nine points.

Korea, the defending champions, thrashed Kazakhstan 10-0 in the morning encounter today. Jin Hyuk Bang scored three, Myung Ok Kim and Soo Jung Kim scored two each while Eun Young Lee, Hyun Jung Woo and Eun Jin Kim scored a goal each for the Koreans.

China have just three points from three games, but they are yet to play weaker teams Malaysia and Kazakhstan, and look sure to end up with nine points. In such a scenario, India need to beat Korea to confirm their entry into the final. Even a draw against Korea would mean that China, Korea and India will be tied at the top with nine points each and goal average will then come into play.