Indian women’s junior hockey team scripted history after defeating Korea to lift their maiden Women's Junior Asia Cup by 2-1. Moments after sealing the title, the honorable Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi congratulated the Indian team. He took to his Twitter handle and wrote, "Congratulations to our young champions on winning the 2023 Women's Hockey Junior Asia Cup! The team has shown immense perseverance, talent and teamwork. They have made our nation very proud. Best wishes to them for their endeavours ahead”.
India put up a collective show to stun four-time champions South Korea 2-1 with Annu and Neelam scoring for India while Park Seo Yeon was the lone goal scorer for Korea. After a barren first quarter, India got going with a 22nd-minute goal by Annu from a penalty corner. Annu made amends for her miss in the semifinal against Japan, as she stepped up in style to beat the goalkeeper and give India the lead against the run of play.
South Korea took three minutes to bring it level when Park Seo Yeon struck from the right following a brilliant surge from the right. India held on to their slender lead in the third quarter to seal the issue.
Neelam struck powerfully to the low right of the South Korean goalkeeper to help India regain the lead in the 41st minute.
Indian captain Preeti who was named Player-of-the-Match said they had their strategy in place following a 1-1 draw against the Koreans in the round-robin stage.
"We were acutely aware of the specific areas we needed to excel in order to overcome the Koreans," Preeti said.
"The final match brought about a considerable amount of nerves. However, we knew that as a team we have to play our best game to achieve something special and that’s exactly what we did. We are elated to make our nation proud,” she added.
(With PTI Inputs)