Indian women to take on China in Asia Cup hockey final

Bengaluru, November 4: Indian women's hockey team reached the final of the Asia Cup, after stunning hosts and defending champions Japan 4-2 in the semifinal in Kakamgigahara.

The Indians got off to a rollicking start by earning back-to-back penalty corners to put pressure on the host nation.

While the first 15 minutes belonged to India, the defending champions made a strong comeback in the second quarter.

The final 15 minutes of the match continued to remain tense as Japan won two penalty corners but Indian goalkeeper Savita stood like a rock in front of the goal to deny the hosts.

Goals from Gurjit Kaur (7th, 9th minutes), Navjot Kaur (9th) and Lalremsiami (38th) underlined India's victory, which took them to a fourth Asia Cup final.

Shiho Tsujii (17th) and Yui Ishibashi (28th) were the scorers for the hosts.

FT! The Indian Women's Team are through to the Final of the 9th Women's #AsiaCup2017 with a splendid win over Japan on 3rd Nov.#INDvJPN pic.twitter.com/VjFGoHxboa

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) November 3, 2017

India had won the title in 2004 and finished runners-up in 1999 and 2009.

In the final on Sunday (November 4), they will take on China, who beat South Korea 3-2 in the other last-four encounter.

The winner of this year's edition will qualify for the 2018 World Cup in England.

The last time the two sides met each other was during the 2009 edition where China had defeated India 5-3.

But this time India carry more confidence into the final, especially after havig beaten them 4-1 in the pool stages.