RAJGIR: On Tuesday evening, Deepika finally found herself smiling and celebrating after scoring two goals against South Korea – including the winner – in their second game of the Asian Champions Trophy being held at the Rajgir Sports Complex from Nov 11-20.
Considering she struggled with the penalty corners against both Malaysia and South Korea, it was indeed a wonderful sight to see her star in India’s win. While the first was a field goal, the second was from a penalty stroke.
However, it’s not only her who has struggled with the PCs. Overall, India won six PC’s including four back-to-back but failed to convert either of them against South Korea. Even against Malaysia, they won 11 PCs, excluding the retakes, and could convert only three of them.
But against Thailand on Thursday, one hopes they will be able to increase the conversion rate and win by a good margin. Although Thailand earned a draw against Japan, they were thrashed by China 15-0 and India would be eager to win by a big margin after a nervy win against South Korea.
Chief coach Harendra Singh though isn’t too worried about PC conversions yet and is more than happy with Deepika being on the scoresheet when it mattered.
“I think she’s the finest scorer we have in the team. She takes quick shots and keeps scoring goals which is most important. In the final moments when the score is 2-2, and you are going to make it or break it, she scored the goal and that’s what the team wants,” said the coach after the match on Tuesday.
As far as her two PCs are concerned, the coach meanwhile said, “We had decided that she would go for a ground shot and then a deflection. While the first shot was very well read by the goalkeeper, during the second shot, the player who was supposed to deflect it came in late.”
Deepika, too, didn’t sound too worried about it and is looking forward to putting up a better show in the coming matches.
“We have been working a lot on penalty corners and we need to execute our plans. It’s not that we get frustrated when the PCs don’t come off. We just keep motivating and pushing ourselves.”
Although it’s the same for all the teams, one reason why scoring off PCs might have been difficult is because the newly-laid pitch is a bit bumpy. It’s something India captain Salima Tete even said during the press conference on the day before the tournament began.
Besides the PCs, one area where the team will also hope to improve upon in the coming matches is their mentality after conceding a goal. After South Korea scored the opener, the Indian team looked flustered and it was followed by a poor foul which then resulted in the stroke.
Speaking on the issue, the chief coach said, “I think they should choose the right kind of positioning before tackling. I think we gifted them both the goals. They did not work for that.”
Hopefully, all of this will fall into place in the coming matches. As Harendra said, this is after all a journey towards the LA 2028 Olympics and tournaments like this will help the team prepare for what’s ahead.
Meanwhile, in the other matches of the day, China will face off against Japan while South Korea will take on Malaysia in the opening encounter of the day.
