Deepika stars with solitary goal, India retain women's ACT hockey title with win over China
Rajgir (Bihar), Nov 20: Young striker Deepika turned out to be the star once again with a fine reverse hit goal as India retained their women's Asian Champions Trophy title after edging past Olympic silver medallist China 1-0 in a pulsating final here Wednesday.
Deepika scored the winner for India from a penalty corner in the 31st minute to finish as the tournament's highest goal getter with 11 strikes.
India had earlier stunned China 3-0 in the league stages of the tournament.
It was India's third ACT title after winning the top honours in 2016 and 2023.
The Indian team is now the most successful side in the tournament's history along side South Korea with three titles each.
China, on the other hand, will have to settle for their third runner-up finish.
Japan finished third on the podium after defeating Malaysia 4-1 in the third-fourth place classification match earlier in the day.
It was neck and neck fight between the two sides throughout the contest. Both India and China made many promising circle penetrations but the backline of both the sides was rock solid in the first two quarters.
The 17-year-old Sunelita Toppo was brilliant with her dribbling skills and defence splitting runs from both flanks for India.
Three minutes into the second quarter, China secured the first penalty corner of the match but India's second goalkeeper Bichu Devi Kharibam made a terrific diving save to keep out Jinzhuang Tan.
In the next two minutes the Indians earned as many as four penalty corners but as has been case in the tournament so far, they failed to utilise a single with Deepika taking most of the chances.
Penalty corner conversion has been a concern for India in the tournament as in the semifinal against Japan they managed 13 set pieces, but failed to find the net even once.
In the 23rd minute, it was India's turn to concede another penalty corner but the first rusher defended bravely to deny the Chinese.
Minutes later, skipper Salima Tete created a fine ball for Sharmila Devi whose first time hit to the near post went wide as the deadlock continued at half-time.
India kept up the pressure on the Chinese defence and secured their fifth penalty corner with the first move after the change of ends.
Deepika this time finally found the net with a reverse hit after building on from a miss-trap push.
In the 42nd minute Deepika had a bright chance to increase her tally when she earned a penalty stroke for a deliberate push inside the circle.
But Chinese goalkeeper Li Ting pulled off a stunning reflex save to deny the star Indian striker.
Minutes later, Ting once again came to China's rescue as she saved Sushila Chanu's shot from India's sixth penalty corner.
Trailing by just a solitary goal, the Chinese employed high-press hockey thereafter and also managed to breach inside the Indian circle on a few occasions but the home team's defence didn't break.
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Andhra to be developed as knowledge, creator economy hub: CM Naidu
New Delhi/Amaravati (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the state is taking steps to transform itself into a knowledge and creator economy hub with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
He noted that Andhra Pradesh has abundant tech-driven youth and the government is formulating plans to train them in futuristic technologies with support from global technology firms.
"Our goal is to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub by focusing on AI, quantum computing, data centres, drone cities and space cities. The youth will remain our biggest asset over the next 25 years, and we seek global partnerships to scale up the creator economy," said Naidu during his interactions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi.
Naidu, who participated in the summit in the national capital, also held meetings with several global technology leaders and industrialists to explore collaborations in artificial intelligence, clean energy and innovation ecosystems.
He met Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Autodesk AI Head Mike Haley, Aramco India Director Abdul Rehman AiThukair, LEGO Education Vice President Tom Hall, Aadhaar Founder and CTO Srikanth Nadhamuni, Khosla Ventures Managing Partner Vinod Khosla and others at the AP Pavilion.
The chief minister also held discussions with Saudi Aramco representatives on clean energy projects, including solar initiatives, and invited the company to expand operations in Andhra Pradesh, stating that the state is highly suitable for green energy production.
He sought support from NVIDIA Vice President Callista Redmond for establishing AI Living Labs and proposed partnerships through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub to promote youth innovation, including collaborations with IIT Tirupati and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati under the Andhra Pradesh Future Innovation and Research for Science and Technology (AP FIRST) initiative.
Naidu urged Autodesk leadership to support the development of Global Capability Centres in design engineering and requested the establishment of an Innovation Academy in Amaravati aligned with quantum technology, besides proposing AI and robotics learning labs in partnership with LEGO Education.
He also discussed AI-driven smart governance solutions with Quantela Inc Chairman Sridhar Gadhi, while World Bank Group Digital AI Regional Director Mahesh Uttamchandani met Naidu on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meetings, Naidu visited various exhibition stalls at the summit, including those of NVIDIA, Tata, Intel and Microsoft, and reviewed AI applications across agriculture, healthcare and industry.
