India lost their opening match of the women’s football event at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Thursday. They were beaten 1-2 by a Chinese Taipei side that dominated vast swathes of the match. The match opener from Anju Tamang was cancelled out by goals from second half substitutes Su Yu-hsuan and Lai Li-chin.
The first half ended goalless after Taipei bossed possession for the duration of the half. The opening minute had briefly raised Indian hopes when Manisha Kalyan jinked clear and raced into the box, where she won a corner but it was one way traffic after that. Captain Wang Hsiang-Huei controlled the tempo of the match while centre-forward Lee Hsiu-chin and left winget Ting Chi had the Indian defence worried throughout. While all three had presentable chances, they were unable to find the finish to beat India goalkeeper Shreya Hooda.
The second half started how the first had, with India countering at pace, but this had immediate effect. Anju raced onto a long Indumathi Kathiresan ball out wide, raced into the box and squared it to the middle. There, Bala Devi toe-poked it out to Manisha who had a shot at goal. It was saved, but the parry fell to Anju just two yards out and she made no mistake, hammering it at goal.
Taipei then went on all-out attack mode. Lai scored with a screamer, first selling India captain Ashalata Devi a sublime dummy before rifling a shot right into the roof of the net, from just outside the box. With Taipei pressing on for a winner, a defensive error from Sweety Devi and Hooda allowed Su to walk the ball into an empty net.
Once that went in, it was an exercise in game-management from Taipei, as they easily held India at arm’s length and denied them any clear cut chances to get back into the game.
India next face Thailand on September 24 (kickoff at 1,30 IST). The format of the tournament is such: The top team from each group and the three best second placed teams will advance to the quarterfinals.
We will, of course, have it covered in our day-long live blog as the Asiad medal rounds kick off. Meanwhile, you can relive all the action from the game right here. (Please wait a few seconds for the live blog to load. If it doesn’t, please click here)
