Rio de Janeiro, (PTI) India wasted as many as five penalty
corners seconds from the final hooter to go down 1-2 against reigning
silver medallist Netherlands and slump to their second defeat in
the men's hockey competition of Rio Olympics here today.
Netherlands scored both their goals from penalty corners through
Rogier Hoffman (32nd minute) and Mink van der Weerden (54th), while
India's lone goal came from the stick of VR Raghunath (38th).
But the match witnessed intense drama in the final seconds as
India did not bow out without a fight against the world ranked 2 side.
Trailing 1-2 with four minutes left, India withdrew goalkeeper
PR Sreejesh for an additional forward and pressed hard for the equaliser.
Their efforts bore fruit as India earned their fourth penalty
corner six seconds from the hooter after appealing for a video referral.
That penalty corner resulted in four more back-to-back short
corners but the Indian dragflick battery of Rupinder Pal Singh, who
took four tries, and Raghunath failed to break the Dutch defence
led by goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann.
The Men in Blue, thus, suffered another heart-breaking defeat
after the late loss to reigning Olympic champions Germany in their
second Pool B game.
A draw against Netherlands today would have sealed India's place
in the quarterfinals. But they now will have to wait for the result
of their last pool encounter against Canada tomorrow.
India are now placed third in Pool B with six points behind
leaders Netherlands (10) and Germany (9). Argentina are placed fourth
with four points.
It was a quiet first two quarters from India as well as Netherlands
as both the teams preferred to play it safe, concetrating more on
holding possession of the ball.
India, though, enjoyed the better share of possession in the
opening 15 minutes but they failed to create any scoring chances.
The Dutch, on the other hand, preferred to sit back and get
a hold of India's game and relied mostly on counters but, just like
their opponents, failed to have a shot at the goal.
The action was a little more in the second quarter as Netherlands
slowly and steadily started to put pressure on the Indian defence
The Dutch had the first real scoring opportunity when Hertzberger
diagonal ball from the right 25 yard area created twin chances but
Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, rooted on his line, was up to the
task on both occasion.
SV Sunil and SK Uthappa, who was playing his 100th international
match, then combined well from the right flank to get into the Netherlands
circle but the Dutch defence was agile to thwart any danger to their citadel.
After a barren first two quarters, Netherlands drew the first
blood in the 32nd minute when Hofman scored from a rebound after
Sreejesh made a fine save to deny Van der Weerden from their first
penalty corner.
It took India just six minutes to draw level through Raghunath,
who converted the second of two back-to-back penalty corners.
The Indians dished out some valiant defending in the final stages
of the third quarter when they were reduced to nine men.
With little more than three minutes left for the quarter to
end, SV Sunil and Raghunath had to sit out for five minutes after
getting yellow cards from separate incidents.
But the Indian defence did well and defended in numbers to hold
back the rampaging Dutch side, who went all out sensing a great opportunity
to take the lead.
Sreejesh then once again rescued India by saving Seeve van Ass's
effort from Netherlands' second short corner.
Netherlands then put immense pressure on the Indian defence
and, in the process, secured three more penalty corners in quick succession.
While Sreejesh saved two efforts, Van der Weerden finally managed
to beat the Indian custodian with a low, powerful flick to the bottom
right corner to hand Netherlands 2-1 lead.
But the Indians fought hard till the end and created numerous
scoring chances -- six penalty corners, five of which came in the
final seconds -- but they failed to get the back of the Netherlands
net to garner a point and secure their place in the quarterfinals.
