India fought off a strong challenge from Poland to carve out a 3-1 victory in the final of the Hockey World League Round Two women’s tournament at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here on Sunday evening.
Vandana Katariya (15th), Rani (44th) and Ritu Rani (59th) scored for India while Oriana Walasek (17th) replied for the visitors.
India and Poland have thus qualified for the semi-finals of the event which will be held in Belgium in June, and will also serve as a qualifier for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Vandana finished as the tournament top-scorer with 11 goals. The title clash turned out to be a fitting finale which kept the spectators on the edge of their seats. In sharp contrast to their defensive mindset in the 0-2 defeat to the hosts in the pool stages, Poland adopted a more aggressive approach on the day.
They hardly allowed any space in the midfield while the well organised defence kept the Indian forwards tightly marked.
Poland goalkeeper Marta Kucharska, who was impressive throughout the tournament, continued her fine form.
Vandana put India ahead just before the end of the opening quarter when she fired in from the top of the circle after collecting a pass from Jaspreet. Poonam Rani could have doubled the lead in the very next minute, but Marta pulled off a fine save.
The Indians were left to rue that missed opportunity when Oriana scored via a deflection from a penalty corner. That seemed to infuse the Poles with renewed energy and they started to enjoy more ball possession. The visitors came close to scoring on a couple of occasions after catching the Indian defence off-guard with fast counter-attacks.
The Indians, however, continued to attack in waves and were rewarded for their efforts when a diving Rani beat Marta at the near post. Ritu Rani then scored in the closing stages to seal the victory.
Earlier, Malaysia strolled to a 3-0 victory over Thailand to take the third place. Meanwhile, Russia drubbed Kazakhstan 9-0 to secure the fifth spot. Russia, who had lost 2-4 to their central Asian opponents in the pool stages, were boosted by four goals from Ksenia Shamina.
In the play-off for the seventh spot, Ghana registered their lone victory of the tournament, notching up a 2-1 result over Singapore.
