Huang Xuejiao of China tackles India’s Saba Anjum during a women’s Asia Cup hockey match in New Delhi on Monday. (AFP)

New Delhi: India were saved the agony of losing a game they dominated throughout as Jyoti Kullu scored two minutes from time to hold China 1-1 in the women’s Asia Cup hockey tournament here on Monday.

The hosts called the shots but failed to convert the advantage into goals. “We could have won today. It was our match,” coach M.K. Kaushik said while summing up the pool A encounter.

In the day’s other contests, defending champions South Korea thrashed Singapore 9-1, Japan wallopped Sri Lanka 21-0 and Malaysia overcame Kazakhstan 2-0.

Japan thus created a new championship record, breaking the 15 goals they and Korea managed on Sunday.

The Indians, Commonwealth gold-medallists, enjoyed over 70 per cent of ball possession against the Chinese but faltered inside the striking zone. They were also found wanting in penalty corner conversion, squandering 10 of the 11 chances that came their way.

When all seemed lost for the Indians, Kullu managed to deflect a penalty corner hit by Suman Bala over the diving Chinese goalkeeper to at least salvage a point.

Both India and China now have a win and a draw, and would have to win their last league encounters on Wednesday by big margins to try and top the group.

India will play Kazakhstan while China will face Malaysia.

China, who have brought a second-string side for the championship, focussed on counter-attacks against the fast-paced Indians. The efforts of the world championship bronze-medallist paid off when skipper Ma Yibo sounded the board in the 33rd minute through a penalty corner.

India went all out to restore parity in the second half, with their forwardline breathing down the neck of the Chinese custodian. But none of the moves bore fruit.

India’s dominance in the second half could be estimated by one piece of statistic: they got 10 penalty corners to go with one in the first. They tried some variations, but Suman Bala’s hits were either weak or very wide for any other player to deflect into the goal.

The pool B matches were again one-sided affairs as South Korea and Japan scored at will.

Japan slammed 13 in the first half against Sri Lanka. Sachimi Iwao led the goal feast with six (12th, 14th, 17th, 19th, 31th, 33th minute), Tomomo Komori netted four (24th, 37th, 40th, 64th), Rika Komazawa three (24th, 35th, 49th). Chie Kimura (21th, 51th), Sakee Morimoto (35th, 62nd) and Keiko Miura (45th, 53rd) contributed two each, while Miyuki Nakagawa (2nd) and Akiko Kitada scored one each.

The Koreans concentrated on ball possession and finished with nine after netting seven in the first half.

Kim Jong-Fun (2nd, 6th, 7th) and Nam Jin (11th, 19th, 62th) scored three each while Choi Su-Yun (4th), Kang Na-Young (16th) and Oh Sun-Soon (43th) netted one each. Qi Hui (30th) got the consolation goal for Singapore.

The match between pool A minnows Malaysia and Kazakhstan was a hard-fought affair.

The Malaysians, coached by former Indian assistant coach C.R. Kumar, controlled the midfield and launched a number of attacks from the right flank. They went ahead in the 29th minute through Nadia Rahman, who took advantage of a free cross from the right to score her first goal of the tournament.

Nurul Nadia increased the lead in the 51st minute through an indirect penalty corner conversion.

Malaysia could have gone 3-0 ahead in the 60th minute when Nurul’s penalty corner hit landed in the net. But umpire Emi Furuta, who had earlier allowed the goal, reversed her decision after consulting with her counterpart.