India fall short against Dutch

Sreejesh's side book their place in the quarterfinals despite 1-2 defeat

India scored full marks for their desperation but on the points scale, they had little to show as the suffered a 1-2 defeat to the Netherlands in Olympic Games hockey on Thursday.

In the Pool B game at the Olympic Hockey Centre, India paid the price for two yellow cards late in the third quarter, allowing the Dutchmen to snatch the momentum and with it the victory to confirm their place in the quarterfinals.

The Netherlands have ten points from four matches while India are on six points from four games. The eight-time champions, placed third in Pool B with six points, are through to the quarters with a game against Canada on Friday to come. 

On a bright morning, it was an intense battle with India going toe-to-toe with the European heavyweights. With the teams focusing on keeping possession, there was very little attacking hockey in the first two quarters but India were on the backfoot when Rogier Hofman slammed in a rebound off a penalty corner to give the Dutch a 1-0 in the 32nd minute.

Showing their new-found confidence, India pulled level through a VR Raghunath penalty corner conversion in the 38th minute. But with three minutes remaining in the quarter both Raghunath and S V Sunil were in the sin bin, having received yellow cards for rough play.

With just nine men on the field, India were forced on to the defensive, with the Dutchmen attempting to capitalise. They admirably warded off the Dutch attacks till Raghunath and Sunil returned in the fourth quarter but by then the tide had turned.

Mink van der Weerden beat P R Sreejesh with a clean hit off a penalty corner to give his team a 2-1 lead in the 54th minute and the game seemed to be well and truly over for India. But Roelant Oltmans wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. He pulled out Sreejesh to have an extra player upfront and in the last four minutes, India played without a goalkeeper, pressing hard for an equaliser. In the dying moments, India forced a penalty corner that was kept out. Four more penalty corners followed but they could not convert any and the Dutchmen heaved a sigh of relief as they walked out with three points.

Oltmans agreed the yellow cards to Raghunath and Sunil had turned the game, but he also pointed to the way India fought, marking it out as an improvement. “With nine players, we had to fight really hard to keep control, the players on the field also lost lot of energy. Still, the match showed that we are very close to the top sides in the world and it is an encouraging sign,” he said.

Sreejesh, who had another good game, bringing forth some splendid saves, also felt India should have grabbed their chances at the end. “Even with nine men, we fought hard but we should have converted the chances that came our way in the end. Now our focus is solely on the Canada game and we are ready to give 150%,” he said.

Results: Pool A: Britain: 1 lost to Australia: 2; New Zealand: 9 bt Brazil: 0.
Pool B: Ireland: 4 bt Canada: 2; Netherlands: 2 bt India: 1.