Japan down Indian Eves in hard fought encounter at Hawke’s Bay Cup

IN THEIR QUARTER-FINAL MATCH at the Hawke’s Bay Cup, India went down to a resilient Japan 3-1.

Japan started the game strongly, and took the lead in the 5th minute from their first PC. They scored two more quick field goals in the 6th and 7th minutes to leave India reeling at 3-0.

The Indian team settled down and earned their first PC which they duly converted through Rani in the 14th minute.

After an exciting goal-filled first quarter, the second turned out to be calmer as both teams looked to their defence to control the flow of the game. The game went into half time with Japan leading 3-1.

India came out of half time stronger, and immediately tested the Japanese goal keeper in the beginning of the third quarter, only to be thwarted by their goalkeeper who cleared the ball off the line.

The Japanese, who started the half defensively were pushed back constantly, as the Indians pressed hard to find the goals.

Deflections by Poonam missed the target, while captain Deepika also missed a chance in the quarter.

Late in the fourth quarter, India had a flurry of PCs as they looked to convert a goal to put their opponents under pressure. Japan’s goal keeper Asano Sakiyo was called into action as she cleared off the line from Rani’s try in the final minutes to ensure her team qualified for the next round. The final score was 3-1 in favour of Japan.

The 2016 Hawke's Bay Cup is an invitational 8 nation women tournament, held between April 2-10 as part of the festival of hockey in New Zealand. The venue for the three-year-old event, is the stunning Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park inHastings. For the 2016 tournament, the eight participating nations are Australia, Canada, China, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea and New Zealand. Today's quarterfinal matches saw Japan beat India and China beat Canada. Australia and New Zealand will take on Ireland and Korea respectively.

India next play Canada in the classification game on Saturday, 9th April.