Kakamigahara (Japan) Nov 3 (IANS) India set their date with China in the final of the 9th women s Asia Cup after beating hosts Japan 4-2 in the semi-final here on Friday.
The Indian eves rode on a brace from Gurjit Kaur and field goals from Navjot Kaur and Lalremsiami to advance to a fourth Asia Cup final. India won the title in 2004 and finished runners-up in 1999 and 2009.
Gurjit gave India a perfect start successfully converting a penalty corner in the seventh minute before Navjot s field goal in the ninth minute made it 2-0 for the tourists.
In the same minute Gurjit inflated India s lead to 3-0 with a brilliant field goal.
But Japan was no pushover. It managed to dominate the Indians in the second quarter and reduced the deficit to 2-3 through field goals from Shiho Tsujii (17 ) and Yui Ishibashi (28 ).
The third quarter saw Lalremsiami score her first goal of the tournament to put India ahead 4-2 and the defenders did well to keep the Japanese at bay thereon.
India entered the knockout stage of the tournament following big wins over Singapore 10-0 China 4-1 and Malaysia 2-0 to top their pool and on Thursday defeated Kazakhstan 7-1 in the quarter-final.
On Sunday India will aim to avenge their 3-5 loss to China in 2009 as the winner of this year s edition will qualify for the 2018 World Cup in England.
--IANS
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