Indian women’s hockey team defeated South Africa 4-3 in their final pool A match at Tokyo Olympics. The thrilling contest was held in the Oi Hockey Stadium.
The game had a frantic start with four referrals in the first two minutes keeping the video umpire busy, but India took the early lead through Vandana Katariya as she opened the scoring after a great run from Navneet Kaur. The South Africans however equalized in the final minutes of the first quarter. Christie Glasby scored the equalizer, and despite all of India’s dominance, the score was 1-1 after the end of the first quarter.
Just like the first quarter, India scored early in the second quarter as well and took the lead. Deep Grace and Vandana Katariya combined through a penalty corner with the latter putting the ball in the back of the net, scoring her and India’s second goal. India had dominated the quarter but failed to extend their lead, missing a couple of good chances along the way. South Africa, once again, equalized in the final few seconds of the quarter and the first half ended 2-2.
In the second half, India once again started on the front foot with a goal from Neha through a variation from the penalty corner. But South Africa equalized, for the third time in the match through Marizen Marias. The third quarter, just like the previous three ended with both the teams’ on level, and the score was 3-3. The final quarter saw South Africa making the early charge on the Indian goal but India defended well and then went on to take the lead once again. Vandana Katariya scored her third goal and put India in the lead for the fourth time. That was the final goal-scoring action of the game as India edged out the gritty South Africans to win the match 4-3.
The win meant that India finished their pool matches with six points which gives them a great chance to qualify for the quarterfinals.
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