Tokyo: The Indian women’s hockey team continued their impressive run, defeating hosts Japan by 2–1 in a struggling match to win the Olympic Test competition title here. Navjot Kaur scored 11th in the 33rd minute from the 10th-ranked Indian team in the world at the OI Hockey Stadium. Minami Shimizu scored the only goal for Japan in the 12th minute. In the first quarter, both teams adopted an aggressive attitude. India dominated the first ten minutes and also got the advantage in the 11th minute when Navjot managed to score a goal.
India’s happiness, however, did not last long, and Japan responded by scoring a goal in the next minute to level the score at 1-1. In the second quarter, both teams took notice of their defense. Both teams made some chances but failed to score. This led to a score of 1–1 until midnight.
After the intermission, India took an aggressive approach and scored a penalty corner in the 33rd minute. Indian drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur’s shot was saved by Japanese goalkeeper Megumi Kageyama but the young forward Lalremsiammi managed to score on the rebound. Japan also got a penalty corner in the 42nd minute but the Indian defenders defended it and maintained the Indian lead. India got a penalty corner in the 45th minute, but could not score it. India went on to save the goal in the last quarter and was successful in this. Japan got two consecutive penalty corners in the last moments but Indian goalkeeper Savita defended well on both occasions.
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