Bengaluru (Karnataka)[India], December 16 (ANI): The Indian Junior Women’s squad have made it again to India after efficiently defending the Women’s Junior Asia Cup title in Muscat Oman. India defeated heavyweights China 1-1 (3-2 SO) within the Final to emerge victorious and carry the coveted trophy once more.
Star drag-flicker Deepika performed an amazing function in India’s title-winning marketing campaign as she ended the event as the highest scorer with 12 objectives to her identify, 5 coming from penalty corners.
India completed second in Pool A, additionally consisting of China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Bangladesh. India had a dominant Pool stage as they recorded huge wins towards Malaysia, Bangladesh and Thailand. Deepika was the star performer throughout the Pool stage as she opened the event with back-to-back hattricks and had recorded 11 objectives within the opening 4 matches already. Their solely loss within the event got here in a 2-1 defeat towards China through which Deepika was the lone purpose scorer for India.
India confronted Pool B winners, Japan within the semi-final, who had scored 38 objectives within the final 4 matches and have been in peak kind. Despite the stats backing Japan, India breezed previous them with a cushty 3-1 win and sealed their spot within the remaining courtesy of objectives from Sakshi Rana, Mumtaz Khan and Deepika.
In the ultimate, China drew first blood courtesy of an unlucky penalty stroke within the second quarter. India nevertheless, bounced again with Kanika Siwach scoring the essential equaliser within the third quarter. The sport went right into a penalty shootout which India gained 3-2 and have been topped champions. Goalkeeper Nidhi stole the highlight with three clutch saves within the shootout towards Lihang Wang, Jingyi Li and Dandan Zuo and helped her aspect prevail over the Chinese. Thanks to the stellar performances within the Women’s Junior Asia Cup, India has additionally sealed its spot within the FIH Junior World Cup 2025, to be held in Chile.
India’s main goalscorer Deepika was over the moon after profitable the title and stated, “Really happy that I managed to score as many goals but it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my teammates. Every player in the camp has worked extremely hard and without everyone’s effort, we wouldn’t have been able to win the title. Thanks to the other forwards, we won a lot of penalty corners and I was able to convert them into goals.””Some of the young players have incredible potential and I am sure they will build on the team’s success,” she added.
Captain Jyoti Singh led her aspect to an unimaginable title defence and he or she was elated together with her staff’s efficiency. She stated, ” I am happy that the team’s hard work in training has finally paid off. We hardly put a foot wrong throughout the tournament and I am proud of my teammates for performing at such a high level. Facing China in the final was a challenge but we gave it our all on the pitch and got the trophy back home.””Deepika did a fantastic job with the goals. Kanika Siwach, Sunelita Toppo and Mumtaz Khan also did well in the attack and supported Deepika in her scoring spree. Couldn’t be more proud about the team’s performances up front.”(ANI)