Having broken a 20-year-old jinx, a confident Indian women’s hockey team will be desperate to end a long 36-year wait when it takes on Japan in the gold medal clash of the Asian Games in Jakarta on Friday.
Last edition’s bronze medal list India on Wednesday registered a hard-fought 1-0 win over China to enter the final of the Asian Games after 20 years. The Indian women last made it to the summit clash of the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1998 and ended runners-up after losing to Korea. Having already achieved that goal, India’s next target will be to reclaim the gold medal after 36 long years.
The Indians won their only Asiad gold in the women’s hockey way back in 1982 in New Delhi. Come tomorrow, they would be desperate to break that jinx and add to their one gold, one silver and three bronze medals tally from nine previous appearances.
Going by world ranking and performance in the tournament so far, world No 9 India will start as favorites against 14th ranked Japan.
Like their male counterparts, the Indian women too have been impressive in the Games so far with an unbeaten record, having registered huge victories against Indonesia (8-0), Kazakhstan (21-0), Korea (4-1) and Thailand (5-0) in the pool stages before the close win over resilient Chinese.
The Indians have been brilliant in defense so far and conceding just one goal in 300 minutes is a testimony to the fact. Deep Grace Ekka, Deepika, Gurjit Kaur, Sunita Lakra and youngster Reena Khokhar have all played a major role in backline.
India’s forwardline, led by experienced Vandana Katariya and skipper Rani herself, has been in prime form throughout the tournament, scoring a total of 39 goals in the five matches that they have played here so far.
