Indian sportswomen undoubtedly get a raw deal in terms of viewership, sponsorship, popularity, facilities and remuneration. In most cases, they have less of everything when compared with their male counterparts. So it is heartening when high achieving sportswomen are lauded and feted; when they get at least some of the attention and admiration that they deserve from their nation.
The Indian women beat the Chinese women by way of a tense shootout when the game remained undecided at 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
After the emphatic win by the Indian men to clinch the Men’s Asia Cup, this time it was the women who became the champions of Asia when they topped an impressive tournament with this win.
A match that went down to the wire finally was decided by goalkeeper Savita managing to make a spectacular save during the shootout to clinch the match and the title with a 5-4 win at Kakamigahara Kawasaki Stadium in Japan.
Earlier the Indian women had beaten hosts Japan 4-2 convincingly to enter the finals of the Asia Cup. Now having defeated the two time champions China, the Indian women have qualified for the World Cup.
The Indian women comprehensively defeated China 4-1 in one of their league matches and also handed Singapore a crushing 10-0 defeat in their first mach of the tournament.
Politicians, ministers and other public figures tweeted to express their support of the Indian women’s hockey team and former player. Former captain of the Indian hockey team Viren Rasquinha also congratulated the champions.
Captain Rani Rampal was extremely happy to win the Asia Cup and to have “earned qualification for next year's World Cup on merit”. The Indian women broke a 13 year old drought to clinch the 2017 title.
Next year will be the Hockey World Cup as well as the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. This victory gives the Indian women the confidence they will need to perform well in these competitions as well. The Indian women held their own in a top level competition and hopefully they can carry this confidence and motivation into the coming year to effectively face its vital challenges.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]