Women's Hockey Asia Cup final: India lose 1-4 to China, miss out on direct World Cup berth

India lost 1-4 to China in the title clash and ended runners-up at the women’s Asia Cup hockey tournament here on Sunday.

The defeat meant India failed to secure a direct berth in next year’s FIH women’s World Cup to be held in Belgium and Netherlands.

India drew the first blood through a penalty corner conversion by Navneet Kaur in the first minute before China came into their own, scoring four times to emerge victorious.

Navneet scored from the penalty corner to hand India the lead at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium. China then got three back-to-back penalty corners but India held on to their lead until Zixia Ou cancelled out Navneet’s opener with her 21st minute strike.

Hong Li put China ahead by finding the target in the 41st minute, while Meirong Zou struck the home team’s third goal in the 51st minute.

Jiaqi Zhong completed the rout of India with a goal in the 53rd minute.