KOLKATA: The Netherlands women's hockey team showed once again why they are the defending Olympic and World Champions as they beat India 3-1 in their FIH Pro League encounter at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
The visitors took the lead as early as in the third minute after
Yibbi Jansen
scored from their first penalty corner. She hit it straight through the legs of
Savita
, who earlier made a couple of saves to deny the Dutch from sounding the board.
Despite conceding, India hit back six minutes later to the joy of Janneke Schopman when
Navneet Kaur
scored from the top of the D following
Sunelita Toppo
's pass from the left.
Sunelita
made a lovely run down the right before playing the ball to Navneet, who then did well to turn around and find the net although she had a defender behind. Almost immediately
Navneet
had another chance to score but this time she failed to convert from their first PC.
The Dutch, coached by former Indian men's coach Paul van Ass, however, were unperturbed by India's goal and kept up their attacks going into the next quarter.
Pien Dicke
almost scored early on but her shot hit the upright. But six minutes into the restart, the Dutch took the lead when Fay van der Elst scored a brilliant goal.
India then wasted two PCs while Savita did well to deny the Dutch from increasing their lead. But
Jansen
made it 3-1 for the Netherlands four minutes into the third quarter when she converted their fifth PC. It went into the top of the goal and Savita could do nothing to keep it out. Within minutes, Jansen had a chance to complete her hat-trick but her tomahawk hit the upright and came back into play.
Although India went down in their second successive match, it was a commendable performance from them as it was the lowest margin of victory this season for the Netherlands. However, India's biggest concern going forward will be the penalty corners.
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