Muscat: The last edition of India defeated China 2-0 to win a medal bronze consolation in the Asian Cup hockey tournament here on Friday.
Indians left their semi-final defeat against Korea and controlled the process in the first two quarters, scored two goals in the process, to go to half time with a 2-0 advantage against China.
However, they failed to score again in the second half.
Japan appeared champions after beating Korea 4-2 at Clash Summit on Friday.
Previously on that day, Indians began to bright and get a few corners of the penalty and from one situation like that, Sharmila Devi gave him the advantage in the 13th minute, scoring a goal from rebounding after the initial film Gurjit Kaur was saved by the Chinese defense.
India continues in the same vein in the second quarter and has a better part of opportunity.
Indians continued to suppress Chinese defenses with relentless raids and secure another penalty in the 19th minute converted by Gurjit with extraordinary drag-flick to make a score of 2-0.
China responded quickly, securing a penalty stored brilliantly by Indian captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia.
Down by two goals, China came out with more intention after a change in tip and tried to suppress the Indian defense but it didn’t work.
Indians maintain pressure on Chinese defense at the beginning of the fourth and last quarter but failed to create a clear cutting opportunity.
China got a penalty angle 10 minutes before time but Indians survived in the amount to thwart the danger to their fortress.
Towards the end of the match, China pressed hard and secured three consecutive penalties with two minutes left in the hour but was lacking in the final execution because the opportunity wasted wasted.
The lack of practice of the match because of the Covid-19 pandemic after finishing the fourth historic Olympics at the Tokyo Olympics, the defending champions of India because they produced an inconsistent appearance in a crucial match to hit the title competition.
After struggling Malaysia 9-0 in their opening, India suffered a 0-2 defeat against the Japanese Asian Games champions before beating Singapore 9-1 to qualify for the semifinals.
But in the semifinals, some careless and bad placing conversions put down payments to India when they were beaten 2-3 by Korea.