India chief coach Roelant Oltmans today said two yellow cards hurt the team badly and that resulted in its 1-2 loss to the Netherlands in a pool B men's hockey match at the Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. "We were on the attacking side until we got two yellow cards, which was a gamechanger. You had to fight with one or two less. That's not only difficult to score a goal but it also took away a lot of energy from the players that I'm not happy about it," Oltmans said.
Already out of next year's World Cup, Pakistan had something to cheer about as the three-time champions defeated hosts Malaysia 3-1 to win the bronze medal at the ninth Asia Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh on Sunday.
P R Sreejesh produced a brilliant display under the bar as two-time champions India stunned title holders South Korea 2-0 in a Pool B match to breeze into the semi-finals of the Asia Cup hockey tournament.
India dished out a pathetic performance to go down 0-2 to higher-ranked England and start their campaign on a losing note at the Hero Hockey World League Final in New Delhi on Friday.
The Netherlands will face underdogs New Zealand in the summit clash of the Hero Hockey World league Final on Saturday after the two teams eked out hard-fought wins over world champions Australia and England at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
Minnows Austria continued to impress in the ongoing men's Junior Hockey World Cup as they spanked declining Asian powerhouse Korea 5-2 in Lucknow on Saturday to remain in contention for a surprise quarter-final berth from Pool A in the 16-team tournament.
India squandered their hard-earned lead on two occasions as they slumped to their second successive defeat losing 2-4 to World Cup bronze medallists Argentina.
