Women’s cricket got off to an exciting start at the Hangzhou Asian Games, with the Indonesian and Malaysian teams advancing to the quarter-finals after winning their preliminary matches.
On the first day of the cricket tournament, held at the Zhejiang University of Technology (Pingfeng Campus) Cricket Stadium on September 19th, two women’s preliminaries took place. The Indonesian team secured a convincing victory against the Mongolian team with a score of 187 to 15. Meanwhile, the Malaysian team defeated the Hong Kong team of China with a score of 104 to 82.
With these victories, both the Indonesian and Malaysian teams secured their spots in the quarter-finals. A total of nine teams are participating in the women’s cricket competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games, including the top five Asian teams in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20i rankings: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Thailand, who have advanced directly to the quarter-finals.
The Indonesian and Malaysian teams will join these top-ranked teams in the next stage of the tournament, while the Mongolian team and Hong Kong, China will compete for the remaining quarter-final spot on September 20th.
Despite the disappointment of losing to the Malaysian team, the captain of the Hong Kong team, Chan Ka-ying, remains optimistic. She expressed confidence in her team and vowed to analyze the problems encountered in the game, rest well, and prepare for the upcoming “life and death battle”. Chan Jiaying also expressed gratitude for the support and encouragement from the audience at the stadium and expressed hope for a victory the next day.
Cricket was introduced as an official event at the Asian Games in 2010, and this year’s Hangzhou Asian Games cricket competition follows a 20-round system. Each team has 20 rounds to pitch, and then the defensive and offensive sides are exchanged. The winner of the match is determined based on the total scores of both sides. The cricket competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games will award two gold medals.
As the tournament progresses, cricket fans around the world eagerly await the thrilling matches and impressive performances from the talented women cricketers competing in the Hangzhou Asian Games.