India beat Korea 2-1 to Win Maiden Crown - Hockey Women’s Junior Asia Cup

Annu and Neelam scored for the Indian hockey team. Japan won the bronze medal to qualify for the FIH Junior Women's World Cup 2023.

The Indian hockey team clinched the Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 title in Kakamigahara, Japan, with a 2-1 win over the Republic of Korea in the final on Sunday.

This is the first time India have won the Women's Junior Asia Cup. India had already secured a spot in the FIH Women's Junior World Cup 2023 in Chile. Japan beat China 2-1 to become the third team to qualify for the World Cup scheduled this year.

Indian team with the Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 trophy

For India, Annu (21') and Neelam (40’) were on target while Seoyeon Park (24’) scored the solitary goal for Korea.

India started the game on an aggressive note by winning a penalty corner within the opening minute of the game, but they failed to score any goal from it. However, Korea resorted to counter-attacks and controlled their position. Despite both teams playing aggressively, the first quarter ended with no goals scored (0-0).

Korea stuck to their approach in the second quarter and pushed India on the back foot. However, India took the lead through Annu who converted via a penalty stroke.

India’s lead, however, didn’t last long as Seoyeon Park scored an equaliser for Korea via a field goal. The second quarter again didn’t witness any more goals, as both the teams went into the half-time break with the scores leveled at 1-1.

The second half of the match started with Korea maintaining their stance while the Indian team switched to counter-attacks. It paid off to India as Neelam converted a penalty corner to put India in front as the third quarter ended with the score 2-1 in favour of the Indian team.

In order to protect their lead, India turned on defensive mode and controlled the tempo of the game by keeping the position into the fourth quarter. However, Korea made forced errors and misdirected a few passes in their desperation to score an equaliser. Ultimately, India stood strong and stuck to their defensive strategy to win the title clash 2-1.

India also had won the Men’s Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament after beating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final, earlier this month.