With the help of 'Golden Girl' Deepika's 11th goal of the tournament, India retained the Women's Asian Champions Trophy hockey title by defeating Olympic silver medalist China 1-0. The Indian team, which had won this title in Ranchi last year and in Singapore in 2016, displayed tremendous coordination and patience and kept China at bay.

After the first half remained goalless, Deepika scored a goal in the first minute of the second half from a penalty corner given to India, thus creating excitement among the spectators present in the packed Bihar Sports University Stadium.

In the very first minute of the second half, Lalremsiami got a penalty corner for India. The first shot missed but the ball was inside the circle and deflected from Navneet's stick and reached Deepika, who put it inside the goal with a brilliant flick. India had a golden opportunity to double the lead in the third quarter itself. But on the penalty stroke in the 42nd minute, Deepika's shot was saved by the Chinese goalkeeper by diving to the right.

India also got a penalty corner in the fourth quarter but the variation did not yield any result. Before this, China maintained its dominance in terms of ball control from the first minute. In the first half, however, the Indian team entered the Chinese circle eight times and the Chinese team could attack only five times. But it did not let the Indian players get the ball easily.

On the other hand, the Indian players once again struggled for the finishing touch. They could not convert even one of the 16 penalty corners in the semi-final against Japan. The weakness of the Indian team was again visible in the first 30 minutes of the final when its first four penalty corners went to waste.

India had a chance to score in the fourth minute when Sunelita Toppo moved forward alone from the right flank. But her attempt was foiled by the Chinese goalkeeper. In the third minute of the second quarter, China got a penalty corner but Indian goalkeeper Bichhu Devi saved Tan Jhinzhuang's shot by diving to the right and did not let the rebound score a goal. Meanwhile, India got four penalty corners between the 20th and 21st minutes and they went waste.

The first shot by Deepika went over the goalpost while the second was saved by the goalkeeper and the third by the defender. The variation on the fourth penalty corner also failed. China got the second penalty corner in the 23rd minute but could not score. Three minutes before the break, India had a chance to open the account but Sharmila's shot on Lalremsiami's pass hit the bar and went out. In the third-place match, Japan defeated Malaysia 4-1.