NEWS: Japanese women stun China

South Korean men stay on semifinal course; Japanese women stun China
The Associated Press
Published: December 8, 2006

DOHA, Qatar: Defending champion South Korea virtually secured a place in the semifinals of the Asian Games men's field hockey tournament with a 3-0 win over China on Friday.

South Korea moved atop the Group B standings with nine points from three straight wins.

China has nine points from four matches and now awaits the outcome of South Korea's last preliminary contest against India, which had a 9-0 win over Oman to stay in contention.

India, the eight-time Olympic champion, has six points from three games, including an upset loss to China.
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The Indians must beat South Korea to avoid missing out on the Asian Games semifinals for the first time.

Yeo Woon-kon, Jang Jong-hyun and Seo Jung-ho scored a goal each in South Korea's win over China.

"We didn't play too aggressively to avert injuries," South Korean coach Cho Jung-soon said. "We're almost assured of a place in the semifinals, so we will play Sunday's match against India without any stress."

Oman's defense cracked under India's second-half assault that fetched them six goals after being restricted to just three in the first session.

Shivendra Singh led India's goals-scoring spree with three strikes, following by two goals each from Hari Prasad and Tushar Khandekar.

"We fell one short of the 10-goal target we'd set ourselves, but that's not a worry," said Indian captain Dilip Tirkey, adding that the next outing against South Korea would be tough.

"South Korea's a tough side and it's a crucial game for us," said Tirkey.

Japan's women turned the formbook upside down with a resounding 3-0 victory over defending champion China.

The victory over Asia's top team boosted Japan to the top of the round-robin league standings with 10 points from four matches.

The Chinese women got a silver medal in this year's Champions Trophy featuring six top nations, but fared badly in the World Cup at Madrid two months ago.

Japan has always proved to be a troublesome side for China. The Chinese lost to Japan in the 2002 Asian Games before recovering to win the gold medal.

South Korea won four successive Asian Games titles between 1986 and 1998 after India won the 1982 event when women's field hockey was first included in the continental games.

India's women wasted scoring opportunities in a 7-0 win over Hong Kong in another preliminary round match.

China and India have nine points each and four-time champion South Korea is in fourth place with seven points.

In the women's event, the top two teams from the seven-nation round-robin league competition will play the final and the next two will face off for the bronze.

In Friday's upset, Japan got the initial lead in the 22nd minute as Rika Komazawa made a diving deflection on Sakee Morimoto's diagonal cross.

Three minutes later, Morimoto slammed in a rebound from Chinese 'keeper Nie Yali, who had blocked her first shot at the goal. One of the world's best goalkeepers, Nie was substituted after conceding this goal, but Japan continued to dominate the contest.

Japan got its third goal seconds before halftime as striker Tomomi Komori capitalized on a stray ball to shoot in from top of the circle.

"We have a good record against China, and knew we could beat them if our nerves did not betray us," said Japanese player Yuko Kitano, who required medical attention after being struck on the face in the second half.

China's coach Kim Chang-back, a former coach of the South Korea's team, said his team will get a chance to avenge the loss during this tournament itself.

"The result is not important because Japan and China will probably meet in the final, where we'll get a chance to make amends," Kim said.