It was the second match of the tournament for both China and India after both the sides had played out a draw against New Zealand and England respectively, in their first encounter of the tournament in Amstelveen.

The match got off to a tense start as India and China battled for their first victory of the tournament. The first quarter was even, with both teams testing and probing each other's defences, but there was only one shot in the first 15 minutes, with India hitting the target but being blocked by China's goalkeeper Liu Ping.

At the end of the first half, coaches of both the sides were not happy as both of them wanted their sides to make lesser mistakes in the 2nd half. But such was the pressure of the game that both sides continued to make errors. Be it losing the possession at the wrong time, or not being able to convert their penalty corners.

Tete Salima pushed the ball over the China goal line after a pass from Katariya Vandana midway through the second half, and India thought they had scored. However, a clever referral by China resulted in the goal being disallowed after it was determined to have struck the striker's body.

Soon though, China drew the first blood against the run of play. Zhang Xindan made a beautiful pass that split the India defence and found Zheng Jiali behind it. The following shot flew past India's goal keeper Savita, giving China the lead in the crucial match.

China went on the offensive in the second half. Gu Bingfeng sent a penalty corner just over the crossbar, and Zhang Xiaoxue narrowly missed connecting with a cross that would have undoubtedly resulted in a second goal.

That blunder would come back to haunt China when Vandana sent a penalty corner rebound past Ping. The goal came at a time when India could have been forgiven for believing they would never be able to break through China's formidable defences.

Vandana Katariya came to India's rescue for second game in a row as she had done against England in the first game when India was down 0-1. Katariya therefore was rightly adjucated Player of the Match.

"We are disappointed because we should have won the match. We worked hard and hopefully we will win the next match."

Katariya said after the game.

India was a better ranked side. In the last two encounters between these two sides India had beaten China 2-1 and 7-1. They were the favourites to win the game, but just like the first game, despite creating multiple penalty corner opportunities they could convert just one of the many.

India's progress to the next round now depends on them beating New Zealand in their final group stage match on Thursday. NZ who were stalled to a tie by China in their first game beat England in their 2nd game and are leading the pool. If they were to beat India too in the last game, India's World Cup journey would be over.