Tour of Korea : First defeat for Indian women's hockey team
Tour of Korea : First defeat for Indian women's hockey team: Indian women's hockey team suffered its first defeat of the South Korean tour on Thursday. In the third Test of five-match series, Indian women went down fighting to the hosts 1-2. Indian women's hockey team, preparing for the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, Australia, next month, is currently touring South Korea for training-cum-competition programme, playing Test matches against South Korea at Jincheong National Athletic Centre. While India won the first Test 1-0 and the second 3-2, South Korea won the third to prevent a clean sweep by the visitors. South Korea is building a team for the 2018 Asian Games to be held in Indonesia in August this year. A confident and determined Indian Women's Hockey Team slipped a bit to suffer its first defeat of the tour. Two goals in the first quarter from South Korea's Seul Ki Cheon (12thminute) and Yurim Lee (14th minute) were enough for the hosts as India's fightback, led by Lalremsiami's goal in the 16th minute, was not enough on the day. The win for South Korea means that India still maintain a 2-1 lead in the five-match series with two matches to play.Next game is scheduled for tomorrow. India took the field in the second quarter with the intent of making a comeback into the match and were instantly rewarded as foward Lalremsiami found the back of the net in the 16th minute to pull one goal back for the visitors. The Indian team took control of the match and were threatening to find the equalizer but the hosts' defence stood its ground well. South Korean goalkeeper Heabin Jung made a couple of saves to deny the visitors of finding the second goal before the breather. The third quarter saw jitters from both the teams as neither wanted to give the opposing team a firm grip on the game. It was South Korea who had the better chances of scoring in the penultimate quarter as they were awarded three Penalty Corners but failed to convert any of them. In the final quarter, it was important for India to create significant goal-scoring chances if they were to find the equalizer and maintain their undefeated streak on the South Korea Tour. So far the visitors have thrived under pressure and in demanding circumstance tried to find a goal for a hard-fought draw. India kept piling the pressure on the hosts and earned two Penalty Corners in the last four minutes of the match, but credit went to the South Korea goalkeeper Heabin Jung who made two fantastic saves to deny India equaliser. —PTC News
