India, who have been unbeaten in the competition so far, are set to make it to the semi-finals in their final pool match of the Women's Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament against Chinese Taipei here on Thursday. India beat Uzbekistan 22-0 in the first match and then beat Malaysia 2-1 in a hard-fought match. In their last pool match, India held Korea to a 2-2 draw after trailing by two goals.
India lead Pool A with seven points from two wins and a draw and a draw against Chinese Taipei will be enough for them to qualify for the semi-finals. Mumtaz Khan and Deepika have scored a lot of goals while performing brilliantly for India, while Deepika Soreng has also impressed. Deepika has scored goals in every match of the tournament so far but as the tournament moves towards its final stage, India will not be able to show any kind of laxity.
The tournament has been good for us so far as we have not lost any matches. The matches against Malaysia and Korea were close but it gave us an opportunity to prove our mettle as in both the matches we came back after trailing. Given the recent form, India should not struggle too hard to beat Chinese Taipei. Chinese Taipei have won just one out of three matches so far and remain fourth in Pool A with three points among five teams.
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