Lalremsiami and Navneet Kaur guide India past hosts South Korea in opening tie of women's hockey bilateral series

Jincheon: Indian women’s hockey team defeated hosts South Korea 2-1 in the first match of the three-match bilateral series to begin their short tour on a confident note on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_6668661” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Indian women’s hockey team in action. Hockey India.[/caption] Young striker Lalremsiami (20th minute) and Navneet Kaur (40th) scored for India, while Shin Hyejeong (48th) found the net for Korea. High on confidence after their impressive outings in Spain and Malaysia earlier this year, India made a strong start against the hosts. After missing out on an opportunity to score from a penalty corner early in the first quarter, India scored a splendid field goal through Lalremsiami in the 20th minute. The visitors’ second goal came in the 40th minute when Navneet struck beautifully to extend the lead. While the hosts won five penalty corners in the course of the match, and a penalty stroke in the last quarter, they managed to convert only one set piece in the 48th minute through Shin Hyejeong. It was India’s experienced goalkeeper Savita who made commendable saves to keep her team’s lead intact. “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,” India’s chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said after the game. “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.” India will play their second match of the tour on Wednesday.