London: India fought hard before losing 1-3 against higher-ranked Netherlands to suffer their first defeat in the Hockey World League League Semi-Final here on June 20.
All the goals came in the first two quarters of the match with Netherlands scoring through Thierry Brinkman (2nd minute), Sander Baart (12th) and Mirco Pruijser (24th), while Akashdeep Singh sounded the board for India with a brilliant field strike.
The loss, however, did not make any impact on India’s chances in the tournament as they had already qualified for the quarter-finals before today’s encounter as they had registered wins in their first three games.
Netherlands topped Pool B with an all-win record from four matches, while India finished second with three wins from four games.
India will take on Malaysia on June 21 while Netherlands will face fourth-placed team in Pool A — China — in the quarter-finals on the same day.
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