CHENNAI: India fought back to claim a 1-1 draw against China in their second Pool B match of the Women’s Hockey World Cup in Amsterdam on Tuesday. This means both India and China have two points from as many games.
After Jiali Zheng opened the scoring with a cute finish in the 25th minute, Vandana Katariya made it two in as many games with a close-range finish following a penalty corner just before the fourth quarter. China, who have thrown their weight behind their women’s team (Alyson Annan and Taeke Taekema, two Olympic medal-winners, are part of their backroom staff in the Netherlands), engineered a few moves inside the striking circle apart from earning a penalty corner to steal the match at the end but the Indian defence held. However, India was by far the better attacking side. The two draws mean that their last Pool game against New Zealand on Thursday is already a virtual cannot lose the game.