PARIS - China advanced into the final of women's hockey after edging world No. 3 Belgium through penalty shootout at Paris 2024 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.
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"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."
China had lost to Belgium 2-1 in first round at the group stage. There were a couple of adjustments in the roster and that turned out to be effective.
"This is a 'do or die' situation," said Chinese head coach Alyson Annan.
"You gonna win this to get on the podium, and the girls did that."
It's the second time for the Chinese team to progress into the final of Olympic women's hockey. They got the silver medal on home court 16 years ago at Beijing 2008.
"This a very emotional moment. We have secured a medal, but we are gunning for gold," said Chinese captain Ou Zixia, who's experiencing her third Olympics.
"I know that our opponents are extremely strong, but that won't stop us from dreaming of gold."
China will face the Netherlands in the final on Friday.
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In the other semifinal on the same day, the reigning champion the Netherlands breezed past Argentina 3-0.
