The Indian women’s hockey team put up another disappointing show. They lost by 1-8 against top-ranked Netherlands in the FIH World League Round 3 to bow out of the semifinal race.
The Indian girls began the match with a bang and dominated the early exchanges of the ball. However, the Dutch girls took their form and ultimately won the match on Tuesday night.
In fact, the hosts took only 21 minutes to get off the blocks when the Dutch had numbers in their favor on a trip down field allowing Kim Lammers to convert an opportunity with a slap shot from short distance. Captain Maartje Paumen doubled the Netherlands’ lead after two minutes from the break by converting a penalty corner with a powerful shot to the upper right corner of the Indian goal.
The Indian girls managed to sneak in a goal, but the second half entirely belonged to the Dutch girls who scored as many as six. Actually, Ellen Hoog tripled Netherlands’ lead when she scored a magnificent field goal shooting the ball into the far opposite corner nine minutes during the second half.
India managed to score a goal through Vandana Katariya in the 48th minute. Immediately after that Valeria Magis in the 49th minute, scored the three-goal advantage for the Netherlands. Subsequently, the Dutch players continued to play with Eva De Goede scoring the hosts’ fifth goal with a variation from a penalty corner. Sabine Mol scored in the 63rd minute while Paumen in the 65th minute at the later stages of the game. De Goede added her second goal of the game in the last minute of the match from a penalty corner.
Korea will clash with Germany in the semifinals on Thursday. On the other side, Netherlands will lock horns with New Zealand. Meanwhile, India will fight against Japan in the fifth to eight place classification matches.
