Japan reached the women's Olympic ice hockey quarterfinals for the first time Sunday despite suffering a 2-1 penalty-shot shootout defeat to China at the Beijing Games.After beating Sweden 3-1 on Thursday and Denmark 6-2 on Saturday, Japan needed only a point to guarantee a top-three finish in Group B and a berth in the last eight.A final-period goalkeeping error allowed China to even the game at 1-1 after regular time, but the result was enough to guarantee Japan a place in the quarterfinals."We expected a tight game. They came hard and it was a tough battle," said Japan head coach Yuji Ii…READ FULL ARTICLE
