Berlin: The Indian women’s hockey team on Saturday lost 0-3 against China to slump to its seventh consecutive defeat in the European leg of the FIH Pro League here, and is staring at a possible relegation from the tournament.
After the defeat, India occupy the bottom place in the nine team standings with 10 points from 15 games.
England, who are playing Germany in back-to-back matches later on Saturday and on Sunday, are placed a rung above India with 11 points from 14 games.
If England win against Germany later on Saturday, India will remain at the bottom of the standings and will be relegated from the FIH Pro League to FIH Nations Cup.
If Germany win on Saturday, India will need to beat China on Sunday to keep their spot in the Pro League.
Chen Yang (21st minute) and Zhang Ying (26th) scored from penalty corners, while Anhul Yu (45th) found the target from a field effort for China.
India made a bright start and made some good circle penetrations in the first quarter.
Baljeet Kaur had the first real chance of the match but her shot from the top of the circle in the third minute went wide.
A minute later, India secured two-back-to-back first penalty corners but Deepika failed on both the occasions.
China got their acts together soon and earned their first penalty corner a minute later but India defended well.
Veteran India goalkeeper Savita made some fine saves to deny the Chinese, including one in the 13th minute to keep out Guoting Hao’s reverse hit.
Seconds from the first quarter, China secured their second penalty corner but failed to stop the push.
A minute into the second quarter, China earned two consecutive penalty corners but failed to make use of the chances.
China came out all guns blazing in the second quarter and dominated the proceedings in the form of penalty corners, and in the 21st minute, Chen Yang scored from a set piece.
China continued to put pressure on the Indian defence and got their fifth penalty corner in the 26th minute and Zhang Ying made no mistake from the chance as they took a 2-0 lead at half time.
The Indians created a few chances but, as has been the case so far, they lacked the finishing touch.
The Indians dominated the third quarter with persistent attacks but failed to break the resolute Chinese defence.
China took advantage of India’s lacklustre attitude in the backline, tripling their lead in the 45th minute through a field goal by Anhul Yu against the run of play.
The Indians continued to put pressure on the Chinese defence and secured a penalty stroke in the 55th minute but Deepika missed the golden chance. The missed penalty stroke summed up India’s day as China came out winners.
PTI