The Indian hockey team had to settle for the runners up prize at the Women’s Asia Cup 2025 after losing 4-1 to hosts the People’s Republic of China in the final at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Hockey Field in Hangzhou on Sunday.
Navneet Kaur (1’) scored India’s solitary goal in the match early but the hosts hit back with Ou Zixia (21’), Li Hong (41’), Zou Meirong (51’) and Zhong Jiaqi (52’) getting on the scoresheet.
The result means that the Indian women’s hockey team also failed to secure a direct berth to the 2026 FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup, scheduled to be co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands next year, and will have to go through the qualifiers route.
India got off to a dream start as Navneet Kaur gave the away side an early lead after a sequence of back-to-back penalty corners.
This was only the second goal China conceded throughout the tournament with Mumtaz Khan scoring the other when India lost by the same margin to China in the Super 4 stage.
However, China recovered from the early shock and kept probing the Indian circle in search of an equaliser. The effort bore fruit in the second quarter as Chinese captain Ou Zixia brought the hosts level from another penalty corner.
Vaishnavi Phalke’s injury minutes earlier didn’t help India’s cause.
After the first-half ended 1-1, both teams had everything to play for and the pendulum swung China’s way in the third quarter when Li Hong beat Bichu Devi to give the hosts’ an all-important lead.
The goal proved crucial in the larger context of the match as it forced India to throw caution to the wind in the final quarter, allowing China more room.
Goals from Zou Meirong and Zhong Jiaqi sealed off the win for the home team and their third Women’s Asia Cup title and the first since 2009, when they also beat India for the title.
India have now faced the Chinese women’s hockey team in three Asia Cup hockey finals. The Indian women had the last laugh when they met in 2017.