A report in Business Standard says that the Indian men's hockey team have qualified for the quarter-finals of the Rio Olympics despite suffering a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Netherlands in their fourth Pool B match here at Olympics Hockey Centre in Deodoro.
“India made it to the summit showdown after Germany settled for a 4-4 draw against Argentina in their group clash. India had last reached the final eight stage of the Olympics in the 2004 Athens edition after which they failed to qualify for the Beijing Games before finishing last in 2012 London Games,” says the report.
It was a game which could have gone any team's way. India and the Netherlands were locked 1-1 after the 40th minute and the third quarter was coming to a close, says a report in The Times Of India, adding that however, the boys in blue, who had just equalized and were on the attack, suffered a huge blow.
“Two players -VR Raghunath and SV Sunil -were shown yellow cards by the umpire in the 42nd minute. Raghunath was penalized for inappropriate body contact - elbowing a rival - and Sunil for pushing a stick into the back of a defender. It happened in the heat of the moment, but the damage was done. These two yellows signalled red for India. They were down to nine men with their backs to the wall. It changed the game but brought to fore India's fighting qualities. It also showed why India's Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans is so highly rated. The Indians played with nine men, nine brave men, for almost six minutes. The Dutch smelled the kill and went for it, and the Indians defended, desperately and strongly,” says the report, adding that goalkeeper Sreejesh stood firm, like always, and made two brilliant saves in that period. However, the rhythm of the team had been disturbed by then and the Dutch payers, who had failed to make much of an impression in the first 30 minutes, managed to go ahead 2-1 through a penalty corner.
However, India's berth in the quarterfinals was later confirmed following Germany's 4-4 draw against Argentina. India, who have six points from four matches, will play Canada on Friday. The Netherlands and Germany too qualified for the quarterfinals.
