On the second day of the Women’s Hockey Asia Cup 2013 in Malaysia, two top teams India and China will be up against each other in the group stage of the tournament. Both India and China have managed to register victories in their first match of the tournament against Hong Kong and Malaysia respectively.
The Indian team’s confidence will be sky high after crushing Hong Kong by 13-0 in their encounter while China also looks reasonably strong after defeating the hosts Malaysia by 3-0 in their opening match.
A neck to neck encounter is expected this Sunday between the World No.12 India and World No.7 China in the Hoki Nasional Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
The Chinese attack looks firm and strong under the captaincy of Ren Ye while the Indian team under Ritu Rani’s leadership will be giving their 100% in this most awaited encounter of the tournament. Indian team will be looking forward to this particular game as a revenge match of their defeat in previous tournament’s Final where they lost to the agile Chinese attack 5-3 in Bangkok, Thailand in 2009.
Indian fans will have high expectations from the star Indian forward Rani, who scored brilliant 7 goals against the Hong Kong team. On the other hand, forward Vandana Katariya also looks charged up after her hat-trick against the same team in their opening match.
The other Indian players to watch out in this match will be-
Poonam Rani (Forward), Joydeep Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur, Deepika (Defenders), vice-captain Chanchan Devi Thokchom (Mid-fielder), Savita (Goal-Keeper).
The most experienced players in the Indian side are Ritu Rani, Joydeep Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur and Deepika with more than 100 international caps to their credit. The greatest challenge for the Indian team in this match will be penetrating the strong Chinese defence and their able goal-keeper Zhang Yimeng.
On the other hand, after facing defeat in their first games, the hosts Malaysia and Hong Kong will be locking horns with each other to gain back the momentum in this Asia cup tournament.