~Purnima Yadav’s brace goes in vain as Sub Junior Women’s Team goes down 3-7 to Netherlands U18 Women’s team ~
~Sub Junior Men’s team beaten 1-7 by Netherlands U18 team~
Netherlands, 14th October 2023: The Indian Sub Junior Women’s and Sub Junior Men’s Teams were beaten by the Netherlands U18 Women’s and Men’s Teams in their respective matches. While the Women’s Team went down 3-7, the Men’s side lost their game 1-7.
In the women’s game, Kajal Jr. opened the scoring for India but Netherlands retaliated with six consecutive goals. A brace from Purnima Yadav later on in the game wasn’t enough as the Netherlands scored one final time to end the match with the score reading 3-7.
Indian Sub Junior Women’s Team Coach Rani, who is a former India Captain said, “Yes, the result was not in our favour. But there are a lot of positives to take away from this game. A tour like this gives us an opportunity to pay attention to the finer aspects of the game and get better with every game we play.”
The men’s game saw the Netherlands scoring six goals before Indian Sub Junior Men’s Vice Captain Aashu Maurya found the back of the net in the fourth quarter. The Netherlands soon followed it up with another goal to close the game 1-7.
“There was a lot to absorb from this game,” Indian Sub Junior Men’s Team Coach Sardar said, before adding, “This is the first Indian Sub Junior Tour and the advantage of opportunities like this is that we get a fair understanding of what we need to work on and where we can improve as a unit and as individuals.”
The Indian Sub Junior Men’s Team will play the Netherlands Boys U18 Team at 2100 hrs on October 15th, followed by the Indian Sub Junior Women’s Team playing the Netherlands Girls U18 Team at 2300 hrs.
By Hockey India
