FIH Pro League: Indian women’s hockey team lost 1-3 to Netherlands

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Bhubaneswar. The Indian women’s hockey team lost 1-3 to the Netherlands in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2023/24 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium here on Sunday. Netherlands’ Yibby Jansen (3′, 34′) and Fay van der Elst (21′) got their names on the scoresheet. The only goal for India was scored by Navneet Kaur (9′).

India’s goalkeeper Savita saved consecutive shots on her goal. Soon after, the Netherlands got a penalty corner and this season’s leading goalscorer Ybby Jansen gave the Netherlands an early lead by firing a shot into the middle of the goal.

Just as the Netherlands were trying to withstand the pressure, an Indian counter-attack took them by surprise. Sunelita Toppo moved down the right side and found Navneet Kaur at the top of the shooting circle, who fired home a powerful strike to put India back on level terms.

The Netherlands came close to scoring as the second quarter began when Piene Dickey outwitted the Indian defence, but his shot went wide of the post. India created a goal-scoring chance for themselves as Sunelita found herself in acres of space and picked out Vandana Katariya, who was one-on-one with Netherlands goalkeeper Josyn Koning, but she went out to diffuse the situation. .

India continued to find cracks in the Netherlands armour, but Laura Nunnink started the counter-attack and played a quick pass to Fay van der Elst, who deflected the ball past Savita and restored the Netherlands’ lead. Both teams got a few penalty corners, but the score remained 2-1 at the end of the first half.

The Netherlands piled the pressure on India in the third quarter, eventually earning a penalty corner and Yibby Jansen let loose a powerful drag flick to beat Savita and make the score 3–1.

The game dragged on for a long time in the fourth quarter and both teams created continuous chances. India earned a penalty corner two minutes into the quarter, but the Netherlands’ defense remained effective.

The Netherlands retained possession of the ball in the final moments of the game and the match ended 3–1 in their favour.

India’s next match will be against Australia on 7 February.

–IANS

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