Rajgir: Indian women's hockey team retained the Asian Champions Trophy title by defeating Olympic silver medalist China 1-0 on Wednesday. This is Harendra Singh's first title as the head coach of the women's team. There were no goals in the first two-quarters of the match. The Indian team took a 1-0 lead by scoring a goal at the beginning of the third quarter. This lead proved to be decisive in the match in the end. Dipika converted a penalty corner into a goal in the 31st minute. This was the only goal of the final match and this decided the victory or defeat in the title.

The Indian team won the title for the second consecutive time.

The Indian team, which had won this title in Ranchi last year and in Singapore in 2016, displayed tremendous coordination and patience and kept China at bay. After the first half remained goalless, Deepika scored a goal on a penalty corner in the first minute of the second half, which instilled enthusiasm among the spectators present in the packed Bihar Sports University Stadium. Lalremsiami got a penalty corner for India in the first minute of the second half. The first shot missed but the ball was inside the circle and deflected from Navneet's stick and reached Deepika, who put it inside the goal with a brilliant flick.

The Indian team failed to double the lead in the third quarter.

India had a golden opportunity to double the lead in the third quarter itself but Deepika's shot on a penalty stroke in the 42nd minute was saved by the Chinese goalkeeper diving to the right. India also got a penalty corner in the fourth quarter but the variation did not yield any result. Before this, China maintained dominance in terms of ball control from the initial minutes. Although the Indian team entered the Chinese circle eight times in the first half and the Chinese team could attack only five times, it did not let the Indian players get the ball easily.

India could not convert the first four penalty corners into goals.

On the other hand, the Indian players once again struggled for the finishing touch. The weakness of the Indian team, which could not convert even one of the 16 penalty corners in the semi-final against Japan, was again visible in the first 30 minutes of the final when all the four penalty corners it got went to waste. India had a chance to score in the fourth minute when Sunelita Toppo moved forward alone with the ball from the right flank but her effort was thwarted by the Chinese goalkeeper.

In the third minute of the second quarter, China got a penalty corner but Indian goalkeeper Bichhu Devi saved Tan Jhinzhuang's shot by diving to the right and did not allow a goal on the rebound as well. Meanwhile, India got four penalty corners between the 20th and 21st minutes which went to waste. On the first, Deepika's shot went over the goalpost while the second was saved by the goalkeeper and the third by the defender. The variation on the fourth penalty corner also failed.

Japan remained in third place.

China got a second penalty corner in the 23rd minute but could not score. Three minutes before the break, India had a chance to open the account but Sharmila's shot hit the bar on Lalremsiami's pass. In the third-place match, Japan defeated Malaysia 4-1.