India won their third Women's Asian Champions Trophy title after Deepika's goal gave them a 1-0 win in the final against China at Rajgir, Bihar on Wednesday evening.
India joined South Korea as three-time winners of this competition after a blemish-less run throughout this tournament, in which they kept six clean sheets in seven games. As most India games have been throughout this tournament, this was once again decided be Deepika, who scored her 11th goal in seven games.
As has been the case in the last three matches, India once again failed to score in the first half, despite being the better side. They had chances from penalty corners, The goal came after a messy piece of play, as Sushila Chanu initially failed to halt a penalty corner injection properly. But India kept the play alive and found Deepika in the circle on the left hand side. She waited, took her time, and then unleashed a fierce tomahawk that went low to the far corner and beat the Chinese goalkeeper.
Soon after, India had the opportunity to double the lead as a penalty stroke was awarded for a push on Deepika inside the circle. She stepped up from the spot and sent a low shot to the goalkeeper's right, but Li Ting, at full stretch, got her gloves to it and kept the ball out.
India had another penalty corner opportunity post that, but again didn't take the opportunity because of a mistrap from Sushila. However, their struggles from penalty corners were in complete contrast to how comfortable they were at the back. India didn't concede a single penalty corner in the second half, and the only real opening that China had throughout the game was met with a superb save from Bichu Devi, who, as throughout the tournament, had split goalkeeping duties with Savita Punia.
This was India's third Asian Champions Trophy, and their second in a row, after successfully defending the title that they had won in Ranchi last year. This Harendra Singh era now has a real base to build on, but India are nowhere near the finished article, which is what the coach aims to make them as they build towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
You can relive the match on our live blog, below: