Ranchi: On the strength of Sangeeta Kumari’s brilliant hat-trick, host India made a bang in the Jharkhand Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Ranchi 2023, which started from Friday at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Astroturf Hockey Stadium, and defeated Thailand 7-1. Apart from India, Japan defeated Malaysia 3-0 and Korea defeated China 1-0.
The Indian team, captained by Savita Punia, made a great start in the match and took a 2-0 lead within the first quarter. Monica scored the opening goal for the host team in the form of a field goal in the seventh minute. After this, Tete Salima scored another goal in the 15th minute and took the score to 2-0.
However, Thailand also opened its account in the second quarter when Samson Supansa scored the first goal for his team by converting a penalty corner in the 22nd minute. But the Indian team was not going to lag behind and increased its lead to 3-1 in the 29th minute thanks to a field goal by Sangeeta Kumari.
India then scored a goal in the 40th minute of the third quarter to take a commanding 4-1 lead over Thailand. The stormy performance of the host team continued further. Just five minutes later, forward Sangeeta completed her hat-trick by scoring two consecutive goals in the 45th minute and increased India’s lead to 6-1.
In the last few minutes, India intensified its attack and with the help of Lalremsiami’s field goal in the 52nd minute, it took a huge lead of 7-1 against Thailand and won the match with the same score.
Earlier, in the first match of the day, Japan defeated Malaysia 3-0 in a one-sided fashion. For Japan, Okawa Rika scored on a penalty in the 13th minute, Toriyama Mai in the 43rd minute and Kobayakawa Shiho scored on a penalty in the 54th minute.
In the second match, Korea made a winning start to their Champions Trophy campaign by defeating China 1-0. The only goal for Asian Games silver medalist Korea was scored in the second quarter by An Sujin from a penalty corner in the 18th minute.
Some six teams are participating in this tournament. Apart from host India, these include teams from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. The competitions are being played on the basis of round robin league stage. All six teams will play each other and the top-4 teams will reach the semi-finals. The Indian team is in search of the title for the first time since 2016. India had to be content with silver medals after losing in the finals of 2013 and 2018.
