China takes Group A lead, hosts India held in Women's Asian Cup

China on the board

China kickstarted the Women's Asian Cup with an impressive 4-0 victory over Chinese-Taipei at the Mumbai Football Arena on Thursday.

The Steel Roses did not take long to ensure all three points are headed their way. Pan Yen-Hsin fouled Zhang Linyan inside the area a couple of minutes into the match. Wang Shuang easily converts the spot kick to open the scoring three minutes in.

Wang Shanshan then doubled the lead in the six minutes later, heading in a cross from Gao Chen with the assistance of the crossbar.

Chinese-Taipei managed to stem the momentum until the halftime whistle, but Zhang Xin made it 3-0 in the 54th minute.

Shuang then netted a brace in the 68th minute to cap off scoring for the day.

China would have additional opportunities to totally break the game open but the crossbar prevented a goal from substitute Li Ying in the 76th minute, whilst fellow sub Tang Jiali's chance was saved by Cheng Ssu-Yu.

Meanwhile at the D.Y. Patil Stadium, Women's Asian Cup debutants Iran held India to a goalless draw in the other Group A matchup.

The hosts had plenty of chances to break through but determined defending from the debutants ensured that both sides share a point.

Zohreh Koudaei had a busy evening, starting off with a clearance of Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi's scoring opportunity in the second minute. She also held firm and denied Indumathi Kathiresan's chance inside the box in the second half, then topped that with a brilliant one-hand save of a Dangmei Grace header in the 77th minute.

Iran did have their own chances to break through, but a Samaneh Chahkandi set piece was sent inside the area for Negin Zandi, whose header beat Aditi Chauhan but was denied by the crossbar in the twelfth minute.

Group A's second set of matches will take place on Sunday, with China facing Iran and India going up against Chinese-Taipei.