Agency :
China advanced into the final of the Paris Olympics women’s hockey after edging world No. 3 Belgium through penalty shootout at Colombes, France on Wednesday.
The two teams tied at 1-1 in the regular time, until China survived the shootout competition 3-2 thanks to three successful saves from Ye Jiao.
China took the early lead in the second quarter. Zou Meirong hit the ball into the goal in the 18th minute.
China began to struggle on the offensive side in the second half. Belgium took more control, and their effort yielded in the final quarter when Emma Puvrez converted a penalty corner chance to a goal in the 59th minute.
The shootout started with a goal made for Belgium and a failure in the first attempt for China. However, the Chinese shooters made the following three shot in a row, while their goalkeeper Ye Jiao managed to block three consecutive shots from Belgium.
China began to celebrate after Ye keep Belgium’s final shot away from the goal.
“I’m really happy that we finally made it,” said Ye after the match. “Actually I’m very calm in the shootout because we made a lot of practice about shootout in the last year.”