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Netherlands beats India to win
Punjab Gold Cup
WSN Network
CHANDIGARH:
European champion Netherlands came from behind to beat host nation
India
2-1 in the final of the Punjab Gold Cup field hockey tournament on
Monday, but even in this defeat, there was some joy.
Hockey lovers saw the Indian team’s performance as a sort of
comeback for hockey which was going into doldrums.
India’s disgraced
and tainted former police officer KPS Gill lorded over the hockey
managing federation for years and virtually presided the decimation
of Indian hockey to the extent that the team did not even qualify
for the Olympics.
Now, it is led by a Sikh captain Sandeep Singh and is really
playing like a team.
India lost the
match as Jeroen Hertzberger scored the winner in the 66th minute. A
last-minute goal by Joel Baker earned New Zealand a 3-2 win over
world and Olympic champion Germany to take third place in the
four-team event.
India earned the
first penalty corner, though skipper Sandeep Singh was unable to
convert it, and Netherlands had no better luck with their corner in
the 19th minute.
The only Indian goal was came in the 52nd minute when
Prabhjot Singh provided a measured pass to Shivendra Singh, who was
checked in the striking circle by Wouter Jolie. A penalty was
awarded and Sandeep Singh made no mistake.
The lead lasted only four minutes before
Netherlands leveled
with a superb field goal by Robert Kemperman. Hertzberger scored the
winner from a penalty corner in the 66th minute, a minute before
India wasted its fifth penalty corner of the game.
11
February 2009
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