Sports Bulletin Report
Lausanne (Switzerland): The Netherlands women marked their return to international hockey with a dominant 4-0 victory against China as FIH Hockey Pro League action headed to Eindhoven, so extending their unbeaten record in the tournament so far. It was a night for the debutants in the Netherlands men’s team, three of them scoring in their team’s 4-1 victory over India.
Netherlands beat China (4-0):
China started stronger than they had in any of their matches at the mini-tournament in London, but conceding two early goals meant they never stood much of a chance against the world and Olympic champions.
The first attacking move for the Dutch was initiated by Felice Albers who found Yibbi Jansen in the circle. Jansen then played it back for Albers to fire it in for the 1-0 lead. The Dutch were back on attack soon after with Luna Fokke crossing the ball in from the left side. In trying to stop the ball, Tan Jinzhuang only succeeded in turning it into her own goal to double the Dutch lead.
China had their best chance of the game in the second quarter when Zou Meirong found herself one-on-one with Anne Veenendaal. But her scooped effort over the keeper’s head went wide of goal and the score remained 2-0 to the Netherlands at half time.
China earned their first penalty corner of the match soon after, but the resulting shot hit the crossbar. The Dutch then went on the counterattack and a goalmouth scramble ended with Chinese keeper Liu Ping backhanding the ball in with her glove, the goal credited to the Netherlands’ Joosje Burg.
Netherlands beat India (4-1):
India were first to make an impression on the scoresheet when a shot from their second penalty corner hit the Dutch first wave on the shin and they were awarded a penalty stroke. Harmanpreet Singh powered it into the bottom left for a 1-0 lead.
That lead lasted until the first break. But the Netherlands found the equaliser at the start of the second quarter when Joep de Mol threw an overhead across the circle to Pepijn Reyenga making it difficult for the Indian defence to prevent the 21-year-old from drilling it in for his first international goal.
The Netherlands were awarded a penalty corner with five minutes left in the third quarter. An exquisite drag flick from another debutant, Boris Burkhardt, into the top left of goal took the score to 2-1.
Less than a minute later the Netherlands took a quick free hit after turning over possession near the halfway line. Reyenga took the ball into the circle and found Bijen Koen on the baseline who played it across the goalmouth where the Indian defence failed to clear and it fell for yet another debutant, Duco Telgenkamp, to flick it in from the back post.
There was more to come from the Dutch, a solo reverse stick effort from Telgenkamp once again finding the back of the net. India had the chance to get one back when they were awarded another penalty stroke in the dying seconds, but Pirmin Blaak made the save to seal the 4-1 victory.
