Japan beats Indian team at Women's hockey final in Jakarta

The Indian women hockey team's dream of reclaiming the gold at the Asian Games after 36 years remained unfulfilled as it lost 1-2 to Japan to settle for the silver medal here today.

It was yet another heartbreak for Indian hockey, a day after the fancied men's team lost to Malaysia via penalty shoot-out in the semifinals.

Coming into the match, the Indians were favorites to the title as they have ranked five places above Japan at ninth in the world rankings.

But the Japanese matched India stick for stick and took the lead in the 11th minute when Minami Shimizu converted their first penalty corner.

India, however, did not give up and pressed hard for the equalizer which came in the 25th minute when Neha Goyal deflected in a Navneet Kaur reverse hit pass, as both the teams went into the breather locked at 1-1.

The Japanese, however, came out rejuvenated after the change of ends and restored their lead through another penalty corner conversion, by skipper Motomi Kawamura in the 44th minute.

In the final quarter, the Indians pressed hard in search of the equalizer but Japan defended in numbers to win the match and claim the gold medal.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)