Japan beat India to claim women’s hockey gold

JAKARTA: Japan’s Motomi Kawamura drilled a penalty corner past India’s defences to claim the Asian Games women’s hockey title with a tense 2-1 win Friday.

India removed their goalkeeper for the final two minutes of the match in search of an equaliser as they chased a first women’s gold in the regional Olympics since 1982, but Japan held on for the win.

Minami Shimizu had opened the scoring for Japan, but Neha Goyal levelled the match shortly before half-time. India’s women had romped through the tournament, scoring 39 goals and conceding just one before the final. Their defeat comes after India’s men, who scored 76 goals in their five pool matches, lost their semi-final to Malaysia in a shoot-out on Thursday.