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An equalizer in the 45th minute of the match from Vandana Katariya helped India draw 1-1 against China in their Pool B match of the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup. India were trailing 0-1 deep into the third quarter but a fine deflection from Gurjit Kaur found the stick of Katariya to bring the first goal for India in the match. The two teams then continued to defend well and end the game in a 1-1 draw.
While Vandana Katariya scored for India, it was Jiali Zheng who scored the only goal for China. Zheng opened the scoring in the 26th minute when she shot past Savita Punia after receiving a pass from Xindan Zhang. On the back of this goal, China stayed ahead till the third quarter and were looking determined to better their head-to-head record against India. However, an equalizer from Katariya meant the game ended in a draw.
India, on the other hand, will be gutted to not convert the penalty corners they got in the early part of the match. Also, the turned-down goal in the 23rd minute of the play hurt India later. In the 23rd minute, India came close to scoring but the goalpost came to China's rescue. From the resultant rebound, Jyotika seemed to have found the net but the goal was disallowed after a referral.
India secured their first penalty corner soon after that but failed to capitalise on it. China took the lead against the run of play through Jiali Zheng who shot past Savita Punia after receiving a pass from Xindan Zhang. Two minutes later, India earned another penalty corner but Monika's try was saved by Ping as China went into the half-time break with a slender one goal lead.
China came out on an aggressive note after the change of ends and secured their first penalty corner in the 33rd minute but Bingfeng Gu's flick went wide. In the 42nd minute, India secured back-to-back penalty corners but wasted both.