Indian eves drag feet, go down to the Dutch

India could have snatched a point from the Orange team if only Deepika had made a clean hit after collecting a long pass on top of the circle in the 54th minute. The umpire allowed the goal but the television umpire overruled it after replays showed it came of the player8217;s boots.

The Indians were clearly outplayed in the first half and early in the second by the Dutch who caught them off guard with pace stick-work. Maartje Paumen opened up the scoring for the Dutch in the third minute, off a penalty corner. Sylvia Karres then found the net in the 31st minute and it was 3-0 early in the second half, before the Indians woke up.

But a slice of luck changed the complexion of the game. The Indians won their first penalty corner of the game in the 48th minute when television replays showed the referee might have erred in awarding it. But it did not matter to Surinder Kaur who made a neat deflection of the shot.