India retain women's ACT hockey title with win over China

PTI Rajgir (Bihar): Young striker Deepika turned out to be the star once again with a fine reverse hit goal as India retained their women's Asian Champions Trophy title after edging past Olympic silver medallist China 1-0 in a pulsating final here Wednesday. Deepika scored the winner for India from a penalty corner in the 31st minute to finish as the tournament's highest goal getter with 11 strikes. India had earlier stunned China 3-0 in the league stages of the tournament. It was India's third ACT title after winning the top honours in 2016 and 2023. The Indian team is now the most successful side in the tournament's history along side South Korea with three titles each.

China, on the other hand, will have to settle for their third runner-up finish. Japan finished third on the podium after defeating Malaysia 4-1 in the third-fourth place classification match earlier in the day. It was a neck and neck fight between the two sides throughout the contest. Both India and China made promising circle penetrations but the backline of both the sides was rock solid in the first two quarters. The 17-year-old Sunelita Toppo was brilliant with her dribbling skills and defence splitting runs from both flanks for India. Three minutes into the second quarter, China secured the first penalty corner of the match but India's second goalkeeper Bichu Devi Kharibam made a terrific diving save to keep out Jinzhuang Tan. In the next two minutes the Indians earned as many as four penalty corners but as has been the case so far, they failed to utilise a single with Deepika taking most of the chances.