Eves beat Malaysia, remain unbeaten

Singapore, The Indian women’s hockey team continued its impressive performance by registering a 2-0 victory over Malaysia in its third pool match of the 4th Women’s Asian Champions Trophy here. India sit at the top of the pool table with seven points, above Korea, China, Japan and Malaysia.
Playing the first game of the day, India were under pressure to stay in contention for the knockouts and they did not disappoint. Any hopes of Malaysia taking the lead were undone in the first seven minutes as Poonam Rani scored a well-executed field goal to give India the lead.
Having got off to a strong start, India defended well throughout the game, not allowing the Malaysians too many forays into their circle and constantly keeping them at bay. In fact, right till the end, the Malaysian team was denied any penalty corner.
Though Malaysia had attempts at goal, Indian custodian Rajani helped maintain the team’s lead.
India came back stronger after half-time and Deepika converted a penalty corner in the 45th minute. Until then India had three failed attempts at converting penalty corners despite trying variations. However, Deepika’s experience and presence of mind enabled the team to take a 2-0 lead over a hapless Malaysian side. With this goal, Deepika became the highest goal-scorer in the tournament. The final quarter saw India hold their nerves, play tactfully and deny any room to Malaysia.
India will take on China on November 4. Earlier, India defeated South Korea 2-1 before fighting hard to eke out a 2-2 draw against Japan in the tournament.