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Kakamigahara5 june. Indian teams had mixed fortunes in the semi-final matches of the Under-18 Asia Cup hockey tournament played on Friday. In this sequence, the Indian men’s team defeated Pakistan 5-3 and made it to the finals. The women, in a tough fight, held powerful China to a 2-2 draw in the stipulated time, but had to face defeat 1-3 in the penalty shootout.

Prahlad’s team was behind 2-3 in the last quarter

In the semi-finals played at Kawasaki Heavy Industries Hockey Stadium, the Indian men’s team led by Prahlad Rajbhar was trailing 2-3 till the last quarter, but showed attacking play in the last minutes of the match and scored three goals and disappointed Pakistan. The dominance of Indians in the match can be easily gauged from the fact that they won nine penalty corners compared to Pakistan’s three. However, goals could be scored only on three of them.

Forward Ashish scored four goals for India

Forward Ashish Tani Purti played an important role in India’s victory, who scored the maximum four goals. He opened the account with a penalty stroke in the 12th minute and then converted short corners in the 49th, 53rd and 56th minutes. Apart from Ashish, Shahrukh Ali scored a ground goal in the 35th minute as the third quarter started. Whereas for Pakistan, after Adeel (27th minute) and Muhammad Farhan Aslam (37th minute), Uzair Ahmed Qureshi scored on the penalty corner in the 42nd minute.

Will meet Japan in the final

The Indian team will face hosts Japan in the final on Saturday, which had thrashed Malaysia 8-1 in the other semi-final. Before the final, the teams of Pakistan and Malaysia will play a match to determine the bronze medal.

Nausheen and Kiran scored goals against China in women’s category

Talking about India vs China women’s semi-final, Sweety Kujur’s team took the lead in the third minute through Nausheen Naz’s ground goal. But Jian Li scored a goal in the 24th minute to give China a 1-1 draw before half-time. After this both the teams took many short corners. Of these, six penalty corner shots of India and five of China went in vain. However, Yuzheng Zhang put China ahead from a short corner in the 48th minute and six minutes later, Kiran Ekka gave India an equaliser, scoring from a penalty corner.

Only Sandeepa could hit the target for India in the penalty shootout.

At present, the shots of the Indian players were not accurate in the penalty shootout. Only Sandeepa Kumari could score a goal while the shots of Kiran, Priyanka Minj and Nausheen could not hit the target. On the other hand, Jiaxin Guo, Chen Jie and Tong Tong Lu scored goals for China.

India will now meet Korea for the bronze medal

The Chinese women will face hosts Japan, which defeated Korea 1-0, in the final on Saturday. Before the final, there will be a fight for the bronze medal between Korea and India.