Kovind, Rathore Celebrate Women’s Hockey Team’s Silver Finish

The Indian women’s hockey team clinched silver at the tightly fought match against Japan.

A dejected Indian women’s hockey team walks after losing to Japan.

(Photo: AP)

With seconds left on the clock in the women’s hockey finals clash at the Asian Games, Japan nullified several of India’s surging attacks to deny them the gold at the 18th Asian Games.

After a fantastic run at the Asian Games, the women’s hockey team clinched silver at the tightly fought match between India and Japan.

It was yet another heartbreak for Indian hockey, a day after the men's team lost to Malaysia via penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals.

Coming into the match, the Indians were favourites for the title as they are ranked five places above Japan (ninth) in the world rankings.

(For more news and updates from the Asian Games, click here.)

Rajyavardhan Rathore and President Kovind were quick to react, hailing the girl power at the Asian Games, “ Hats off to their magnificent performance!” tweeted Rathore.

The impressive Indian team had remained undefeated throughout the tournament, registering huge victories against Indonesia (8-0), Kazakhstan (21-0), South Korea (4-1) and Thailand (5-0) in the pool stages and securing a hard-fought 1-0 win against a resilient Chinese team in the semi-final.

Dharmendra Pradhan congratulated the team over their hard-fought loss and said, “ Congratulations to the entire team for the exceptional performances throughout the tournament. ”