Indian Junior hockey team played their first match of Hero Hockey Junior World Cup 2013 against Netherland yesterday at Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium, New Delhi.
Before the start of the match both teams and the crowd observed a minute of silence to honor Nelson Mandela.
Huge crowd gathered to watch the first match of their team.
Dutch took an early lead when Milan Van Baal scored a goal in the 3rd minute. India had a chance soon after on penalty-corner but the low flick was expertly countered by the Dutch runners.
Goal scorer van Baal, in the meantime, got hit right on his forehead and had to head back to the dugout to receive medical attention. India made good use of the break as they headed straight for the Dutch goal and earned themselves another penalty corner in the 12th minute.
A powerful flick by Gurjinder Singh tied the game and sent the crowd into raptures.
They kept dominating the proceeding, besieging the Dutch circle, but the Oranges weathered the storm quietly, than progressively pushed up the pace to threaten Harjot Singh in the Indian goal.
The Netherlands were rewarded in the 25th minute when Mark Rijkers pounced on a loose ball in front of the goal for a swift push over the line. They scored again a couple of minutes later by Milan Van Baal, his second of the match, to build a comfortable cushion going into the break.
The crowd tried to boost the local team but the Indian players could not penetrate deep enough into the compact Dutch defense to threaten Piet Noordam in goal.
Indian side returned strongly in the second half and scored another goal.
In the 42nd minute Akashdeep Singh entered the circle at speed, running around the charging goal-keeper and managing to find the far post from an impossible angle.
Play was intense, but balanced. India, encouraged furiously by the local fans, pushed desperately for the equalizer but became more nervous as the clock was ticking down.
Play was rough at times and two Indian players collected yellow cards. Mandeep Singh got into a tussle with Rijkers, injuring him and receiving a yellow card from the umpire.
The last few minutes were torrid for the Dutch defence, but they held tight and earned an important win to share the top of Pool C with Korea.
Netherlands coach Sjoerd Marijne after winning the match said, "This was a good start by the team and will motivate the boys. The team is a mix of club players who have played with the likes of Floris Evers, Teun De Nooijer. However this is the first time they are playing in a tournament of this scale. Going forward their game will only improve."
Baljeet Singh, Indian Team Manager said, "It was a tough match. We got lot of opportunities but we could not encash them. Our defense was also not weak. After the initial hit the team was on track in no time. There were some individual mistake which happened at a time that turned out to be very costly for us."
In other matches, Pakistan managed to just edge past Egypt 3-2, leading 2-0 at halftime in a Pool A match while South Africa pipped England 2-1 in a Pool D match.
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