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Women’s Asia Cup: In the end, the best team won – unfortunately for Indian hockey, it wasn’t coach Harendra Singh’s side

India went down 1-4 against Alyson Annan's well-oiled China in the continental event's final on Sunday.

The gulf between India and China was made apparent on two separate occasions – the 1-4 defeat in the Super 4s and the same result in the final. (Hockey India)

For the second week running, the best hockey team of the continent won the Asia Cup title. In Rajgir, it was the Indian men, who have won back-to-back bronze medals at the Olympics, reiterating their status as the best Asian team for the better part of the last decade. On Sunday in Hangzhou, it was the Chinese women who served a reminder that their stunning silver medal run at the Paris Olympics was no fluke. India would be on the receiving end as Harendra Singh’s side went down 1-4 in the Women’s Asia Cup final against Alyson Annan’s well-oiled machine. The former Aussie legend has now overseen China’s Asia Games gold, Paris 2024 silver, and this Asia Cup triumph, which guarantees them an automatic slot at next year’s Hockey World Cup where, without a doubt, they will be medal contenders again.

For India, Sunday started brightly enough. After a much-delayed pushback due to inclement weather, they wasted no time in taking the lead. Navneet Kaur struck in the first minute of the match, converting India’s third Penalty Corner that came in quick succession. The first couple of routines went to Udita, who went low and straight with her slaps, but India switched things up by going to Navneet at the second battery, and the vice captain fired in an angular shot across the goal to beat Wu Surong. It was only the second goal China had conceded in the tournament, and the first time they even trailed in a match.

Perhaps in hindsight, the goal came too early from an Indian perspective, because it just fired China up – and the crowd’s roar immediately from the restart told a tale. India were about to be peppered by wave after wave of Chinese attacks. Despite that, India conceded just one goal in the first half when captain Ou Zixia scored from a PC.

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In the third quarter, when India had their best spell at both ends of the pitch, defending solidly and showing good attacking intent, China struck a killer blow. Sunelita Toppo, India’s best player on the night, did well for India to win a PC and they threatened to retake the lead before Chinese defenders scrambled to clear. But in the blink of an eye, after winning the free hit, China launched a stunning counterattack and Li Hong drove through on goal to fire home from the edge of the circle. That was the moment India’s fight fizzled, and Zou Meirong (51′) and Zhong Jiaqi (53′) applied the finishing touches in the final quarter.

They gave it all, they fought till the end. 💪

Team India bring home the Silver Medal at the Women’s Asia Cup Gongshu 2025. 🌟#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #WomensAsiaCup2025 pic.twitter.com/xyMxMLaWsx

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) September 14, 2025

Worrying trajectory

Bichu Devi was kept busy throughout the night, and she had to make some crucial interventions in the first half. On one occasion, when she was beaten, Navneet managed to deflect the ball on the goal line. Worryingly, India made things difficult for themselves. Udita missed an aerial out of defence, Vaishnavi Phalke put her own teammate under pressure with a poor square pass in defence, Ishika Chaudhary and Nikki Pradhan nearly colluded to put a Chinese player through 1-on-1, and Suman Devi lost possession in a dangerous area. But China were profligate too in the final third before Zixia’s opener. The PC leading to that too was a soft one to concede by India, as Mumtaz Khan violated the 5m rule for a China free hit.

India’s best spell in Q3 also saw Surong make a sharp save after Sangita Kumari and Sunelita combined delightfully for a quick give-and-go. But once China took the lead after the PC India won at one end, and ended up conceding at the other, there wasn’t too much doubt about the result. In Q4, Chen Yang and Li Hong combined beautifully down the left, playing a brilliant 1-2 pass. Chen then found Zhang Ying inside the circle, who played a cute pass to the tournament’s top scorer Zou Meirong, who had her back to the goal but still managed to beat Bichu with a quickly taken shot.

Yunxia scored another fine goal shortly after. Chen played an aerial down the right flank, and it was controlled superbly by Yunxia, who drove into the circle, dropped her shoulder to beat Ishika, and unleashed a reverse hit past Bichu. From there, the end was just a formality.

While the last Olympics cycle has seen China’s meteoric rise in the women’s game, India’s trajectory – at least through results, if not necessarily in terms of performances – has continued to dip worryingly. After their heroic, and ultimately heartbreaking, fourth-place finish in Tokyo, they failed to even qualify for Paris, and have struggled in the Pro League over the last couple of seasons, recently finishing last and getting relegated. Coach Harendra led the team to an Asian Champions Trophy title last year, but it isn’t the most prestigious tournament going around and China didn’t send their A team. The second-placed finish in Hangzhou was built on some solid enough displays but the gulf between them and China was made apparent on two separate occasions – the 1-4 defeat in the Super 4s and the same result in the final.