Rio 2016: Dashing Dutch ditch India
Holland players celebrate a goal against India on Thursday. The Dutch won 2-1. (Photo: AP)

Holland players celebrate a goal against India on Thursday. The Dutch won 2-1. (Photo: AP)
India wasted as many as five penalty corners seconds from the final hooter to go down 1-2 against reigning silver medallist the Netherlands and slump to their second defeat in the men’s hockey competition of the Rio Olympics here on Thursday.
The 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 V.R. 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 P.R. 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 Stock-mann.
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 the Netherlands would have sealed India’s place in the quarter-finals. But they will have to wait for the result of their last pool encounter against Canada on Friday.
India are now placed third in Pool B with six points behind leaders the Netherlands (10) and Germany (9). Argentina are fourth with four points.
It was a quiet first two quarters from India as well as the 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 chances.
The Dutch, on the other hand, preferred to sit back and get a hold of India’s game and relied mostly on counters.
After a barren first two quarters, the Dutch 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.