India overpower Republic of Korea to claim 2-1 victory

Indian Women's Hockey team trounced the Republic of Korea by 2-1 in their opening match of the ongoing three-match Bi-lateral Series here on Monday.

India missed an opportunity to score through a penalty corner (PC) early in the first quarter but converted a splendid field goal through young striker Lalremsiami in the 20th minute. An early lead was backed by a good defending which put the visitors in a good position.

In the 40th minute, India's Navneet Kaur added another goal to her side and took India's lead to two. The hosts won five PCs in the course of the match, including a penalty stroke in the last quarter but the hosts managed to convert only one PC in the 48th minute.

India's goalkeeper Savita did a commendable job as she restricted the hosts to score just one out of many chances.

Despite a victory, India's Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne feels that there is still a room for improvement.

"Considering this was our first match, I think the result was good but the performance can be better. We tried some new things in the match and it was interesting to see how we handled the change," Marijne said in a statement.

"We must bring our technical skills to a higher level in order to play faster and that will be one of our priorities for the next match," he added.

Both the teams will now come face to face on May 22, for their second clash.