Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Ashgabat: China PR stormed into the semi-finals, beating Hong Kong 5-1 in an Ashgabat 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games women's futsal Group A match on Wednesday. They join defending champions Japan – who beat Turkmenistan 8-0 – from the group in the last four.
China scored their first through Fan Yuqiu in the second minute, with Wang Ting adding the second six minutes later.
Ng Wing Kum pulled one back for Hong Kong in the ninth minute before Zhang Yue hit the third for China in the 13th for a 3-1 score at halftime.
It was cruise control for China after the restart, Zhang Yue hitting her second of the match in the (35th) while Dong Jiabao scored the fifth in the 38th as China overwhelmed their opponents.
"I am very disappointed. I think we had the strength and ability to qualify. They could not perform, especially in the first half when we went 3-1 behind. I've told some of the younger players 'you can never learn better than this. It is priceless'," said Hong Kong coach Tsang Wai Chung on his side missing out on a place in the semi-finals.
"But because the players are lacking in experience, they have never had to deal with this kind of mental pressure before."
Meanwhile, Ryo Egawa was the star for Japan, bagging four goals in the (10th, 16th, 34th and 35th) as Turkmenistan didn’t pose a threat throughout the match.
Japan’s other goals came from Akari Takao (26th), Miku Sakurada (31st), Chihiro Tanaka (36th) and Mutsumi Sakata (37th).
In Group B, Thailand beat Islamic Republic of Iran 2-0 to go top of their group. A Sawitree Mamyalee double in the third minute and 29th gave the 2013 bronze medallists victory as both teams qualified for the semi-finals.
Results
Group A
Sept 20
China PR 5-1 Hong Kong
Turkmenistan 0-8 Japan
Sept 17
Japan 3-2 Hong Kong
China PR 3-1 Turkmenistan
Sept 16
Japan 5-2 China PR
Turkmenistan 1-6 Hong Kong
Group B
Sept 20
IR Iran 0-2 Thailand
Sept 17
Thailand 16-1 Palestine
Sept 16
Iran 16-1 Palestine
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