India vs. South Korea, Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2024: India defeated South Korea 3-2 on Tuesday in the women’s Asian Champions Trophy after striker Deepika missed a penalty three minutes from the end.

Sangita Kumari (3rd minute) and Deepika (20th, 57th) gave India a 2-0 lead in the first half. However, Korea rallied in the third quarter and equalised through goals from Yuri Lee (34th) and captain Eunbi Cheon (38th).

With both teams vying for the game-winning goal, the match was heading for a thrilling conclusion. Deepika scored from the penalty spot to give India their second straight tournament victory.

On Monday, India won their tournament opener 4-0 over Malaysia. against Thursday, the hosts will take against Thailand.

China, the current Olympic silver medallist, crushed Malaysia 5-0 to win for the second time in a row, while minnows Thailand held Japan to a 1-1 draw in the day’s opening encounter.

The Indians continued to play offensive hockey right from the start, picking up where they left off on Monday.

The fact that the Koreans had no shots on the Indian goal over the first two quarters is a good indicator of India’s superiority.

India, on the other hand, produced opportunities that led to two field goals and persistently harassed the Korean defence.

The Indians quickly took the lead when Sangita gave them the first goal in the third minute.

Navneet Kaur discovered Sangita inside the circle after Neha Goyal started the dance and handed it to her. With an exquisite reverse hit, the striker found the back of the net after deftly receiving the ball and avoiding her marker.

India continued to put pressure on the Korean defenders, and in the 20th minute, Deepika scored a close-range goal after Beauty Dung Dung had passed from the right wing.

A minute later, Korean goalie Seoyeon Lee saved a reverse hit from Preeti Dubey with an outstretched right leg.

Sangita had a thrilling chance to score her second goal of the day in the 24th minute, but her push from a Deepika feed missed the post by a narrow margin.

If India had won the first half, Korea would have come out firing following the change of ends, securing back-to-back penalty corners in the 34th minute before Lee gave her team a response from a rebound.

With the goal as motivation, the Koreans applied pressure to the Indian defence and, four minutes later, won a penalty after an Indian defender brought a Korean striker into the circle without cause. Cheon, the skipper, took charge and levelled the score with ease.

The Indians were unable to utilise the eight set pieces they had won in the game, including four in a row in the 39th minute, and the penalty corner conversion continued to plague them.

India had as many as 11 penalty corners in the most recent game, but they only converted three of them.

The Indians, who were held to a 2-2 draw, chose to put numbers up front and launched raid after raid on the Korean citadel, securing penalty corners quickly. However, their efforts were largely one-dimensional and lacked variation from the set pieces.

However, Deepika easily completed a penalty stroke that gave the Indians a chance in the 57th minute.