Hockey: Indian eves lose 0-4 to South Korea

Jincheon (Korea), May 24: The Indian women's hockey team lost 0-4 to hosts South Korea in the third match here on Friday. India had earlier registered two back-to-back wins but could not muster a third win to end the series on a sweet note.

The team's defence was put under pressure right from the start as the hosts made successful forays into the striking circle. They created as many as five penalty corners in the match and converted one in the 29th minute. Jang Heesan was the one to score first following which the Indian team conceded back-to-back goals in the 41st minute through Kim Hyunji and Kang Jina. The 0-3 lead dented India's comeback in the match while Lee Yuri's goal in the 53rd minute sealed the match for the hosts.

"The learning process is always with ups and downs and today was one such experience where we had to deal with setbacks early on and could not recover. But this does not mean we won't learn from this experience," stated coach Sjoerd Marijne after the match.

He added that the "Republic Of Korea is a good team and today they were much better than us. But I am happy with our performances in the first two matches. And now we know what we must improve upon to be fully prepared for the FIH Women's Series Finals Hiroshima 2019."