The Indian men's hockey team put up a spirited performance in their opening match of the London Olympics 2012 against Netherlands on Monday, but the Dutch proved to be the better team on the day, prevailing in a tense finish to win the match 3-2.
India were clearly the second-best team on the park in the first 35 minutes after Robert van der Horst (20th min) and Roderick Weusthof (29th min) had put the Dutchmen ahead 2-0. The two teams went into the dugout with the same scoreline at the half-time hooter.
However, India came out in the second half having sorted their midfield play and scored twice in the space of three minutes through Dharamvir Singh (45th min) and Shivender Singh (48th min) to draw level.
But three minutes later, in the 51st, a counter-attack by the Netherlands resulted into a penalty corner and Mink van der Weerden made no mistake to make it 3-2, which proved to be the winner in the end....
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