India women’s hockey team clinched its third consecutive Women’s Asian Champions Trophy title, as they edged Olympic silver medalists China 1-0 in a tense final played in Rajgir, Bihar. Deepika scored the solitary goal of the match in the 31st minute from a penalty corner, which happened to be the deciding one for India.
This marks India’s third ACT title coming after their 2016 and 2023 title wins. This victory gives India a record as the first joint-most successful team in the history of the tournament, being levelled with South Korea. For China, the performance was quite resilient, but it finished as a third runner-up for the third time.
A very closely fought match, but this was again something else as both the teams make a couple of threatening forays into the attacking circle, but their defenses remained more or less solid through the first two quarters. The earliest opportunity for China in the second quarter came early when India conceded the first penalty corner of the match. But Bichu Devi Kharibam dived through to punch it away at India’s second goalkeeper to maintain the scoreline.
India had multiple penalty corner opportunities, four in succession, but could not capitalize on any of them, which again had been a concern throughout the tournament.
In the 23rd minute, China was awarded another penalty corner, but India’s defense held strong, with the first rusher successfully blocking the shot. Indian captain Salima Tete was instrumental in generating attacking opportunities, delivering a precise pass to Sharmila Devi, whose shot narrowly missed the target. The breakthrough occurred early in the third quarter when India was awarded a penalty corner.
Deepika, who had missed several chances earlier, finally found the back of the net with a reverse hit after a mis-trapped push. The Chinese team pushed for an equalizer and earned a penalty stroke, but Indian goalkeeper Savita made crucial saves to preserve the lead. Chinese goalkeeper Li Ting also performed admirably, notably saving a penalty stroke from Deepika and a shot from Sushila Chanu.
Despite China’s pressure in the game, India never buckled down, while their defense remained unbroken until the final whistle. The victory handed Deepika top scorer for the tournament, with an 11-goal haul for the whole competition.
