Russia – India 0-1
(half-time: 0-0)
Rani saved her best for
last as she fired home the only goal of India’s win over Russia, a goal that
saw her side claim top spot from the women’s Hero Hockey World League Round Two
2013 in Delhi.
It was a thing of beauty,
jinking away from two defenders to find daylight in a packed circle and
smashing through the otherwise impenetrable defences of Russia goalkeeper Oxana
Serezhkina. It came in the 51st minute after India had peppered the
Russian goal but found the route through incredibly tough to find.
In the first half, Jaspreet
Kaur drew a superb save from a penalty corner won 75 seconds in and the likes
of Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Rani and Anupa Barla also saw their shots batted
away. Olesya Petrova had to take one off the line, too, amid a melee.
In response, Russia
sporadically threatened, winning a couple of corners late in the second half to
show they still carried an interest in the tie. Rani, though, eventually sealed
their nerves 19 minutes from the end and she went close to extending the lead
soon after.
Again, Russia had
intentions of spoiling the party with Maria Nikitina’s sliding shot skipping by
the far post while Yogita Bali did brilliantly to block Ekaterina Shaburova’s
shot. But India deservedly held on to move up to 13 points, tied with Japan but
took the title by virtue of having won mores games.
And they also landed the
major tournament prizes. Rani was the top-scorer with seven to her name while
Jaspreet Kaur was the overall best defender and player of the week.
Fiji’s Susan Mudunatagi was
honoured as goalkeeper of the tournament while Japanese veteran Sachimi Iwao
was top midfielder and Malaysia’s Siti Rahmah Othman the best attacker.
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