India suffered a huge setback in their quest to book a spot for Beijing when they went down 1-2 to Netherlands Antilles in their second match of the women’s hockey Olympic qualifiers here on Sunday.
The loss dealt a severe blow to India’s chances of making it to Beijing and now have to win their remaining matches to keep its chances alive. Claire Visser’s solo following India’s abortive penalty corner attack gave Netherlands Antilles the lead in the 31st minute.
Young Rani Devi got the equaliser eight minutes into the second half, but even as India went in search of the winning goal and wasted three penalty corners, another counter-attack got the tiny nation their proud moment.
Maria Hinskens got the winner in the 55th minute converting a quick free hit. “Never a moment we thought we could win this match,” said their elated captain Ernestina Schreuder.
“This was the best match since I took over the team in 2005,” said Bas Swildens, the coach of the winning team.
“We once beat Spain in a friendly. This is totally a different game. Indian statistics must be terrible. They entered the circle more than 20-25 times against a couple of times by us. This victory is definitely a boost,” he added.
Belgium defeated France 5-2  in the first match which started late due to rain.
Weather worries
The Indian women’s hockey players are finding it difficult to cope with the bone-chilling weather here with coach M K Kaushik wondering why an important tournament is being held in such extreme climate.
With the dipping temperature and occasional rains, the players are facing a big hurdle to practice and play the matches.
Besides the cold conditions and strong wind, the skies opened up on Sunday compounding the already hostile climate. Kaushik is deeply concerned because of the unfavourable weather which he thinks might affect the performance of his side.
“We cannot cope with the prevailing cold weather. Sometimes our players are even unable to hold the stick properly,” said Kaushik.