Indian women’s national field hockey team were unable to fend off Netherland’s offense and ended up losing by 5-1. The Indian captain Rani Rampal was the sole scorer from our Nation and had scored in the first quadrant and had held the advantage until the third quadrant however after the Dutch team gained momentum and there was no stopping them after that.

In the first half of the match both teams were at the level at the score of 1-1 but in the second half Netherland dominated quite heavily and the Indians were unable to reprimand.

Tokyo Olympics Hockey: Albers Felice struck twice as Netherlands thrashes Rani Rampal-led India women 5-1- as it happened — via source

In the third quarter, the Dutch team came all guns blazing and were able to score 3 goals consecutively which heavily affected India’s confidence and rhythm and then there was no coming back from that.

After this, Dutch player Caia van Maasakker decided to make things even worse and went on to score another goal in the 52nd minute which had ultimately sealed their victory.

This was the playing XI from both sides:

India XI – Savita Punia, Deep Grace Ekka, Gurjit Kaur, Udita, Neha Goyal, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika Malik, Salima Tete, Rani Rampal, Navneet Kaur, Vandana Katariya.

Netherlands XI – Josine Koning, Caia van Maasakker, Pien Sanders, Lauren Stam, Laurien Leurink, Marloes Keetels, Laura Nunnink, Eva de Goede, Maria Verschoor, Lidewij Welten, Frédérique Matla.

India’s next match is with Germany on 26th July following which they’ll be facing Great Britain, Ireland and South Africa on 28th, 30th and 31st July respectively prior to the beginning of the knockout stage. Team India will be looking to make comeback in the rest of the matches in order to progress further in the tournament.