CHANGZHOU, China, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- China shrugged off a 0-2 deficit from the first match of the two-leg women's hockey Olympic qualifying tie and beat Belgium after shootouts here on Saturday to clinch a place at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Goals from Jill Boon and Stephanie Vanden Borre at both ends of the match gave Belgium a 2-0 victory in the first match on Friday. China needed to score at least two goals on Saturday to keep their Olympic hopes alive.
Home fans in the Wujin Hockey Stadium waited for nearly 56 minutes to celebrate the first goal from the hosts, as Gu Bingfeng converted from the penalty spot. After just one minute, Ou Zijia's shot was deflected into the Belgian net, as the match was dragged into the thrilling shootouts with an aggregate score of 2-2.
The two sides were tied again at 1-1 after five rounds when Li Jiaqi fired home in the sixth round to give China a 2-1 lead while Alix Gerniers failed to beat the Chinese goalkeeper Li Dongxiao. The hosts won the shootouts 2-1 to secure qualification for the Tokyo Games.
It will be the sixth consecutive time for the Chinese women's hockey team to compete at the Olympic Games.
They managed to enter the final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing as runners-up but failed to make it to the last eight at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
