India dominate Dutch as Savita heroics win bonus point

BHUBANESWAR: The Netherlands women's hockey team is not only the undisputed world No. 1 side, but they are also the current two-time Olympic champions. Their loss against Argentina in December was only their second loss in 2024 and just their 20th loss since the Athens Olympics.
The numbers are quite mind boggling and they continued their domination after coming down to India. In their first two matches, they hammered England 5-1 and 6-0 respectively and one couldn't help but be a little worried about what awaited the Indian side.
But India's women's hockey team put on a show to remember to hold the Netherlands to a 2-2 draw before Savita helped them earn the bonus point thanks to winning the shoot-outs 2-1 at Kalinga Stadium here on Tuesday.
It came a day after they went down 2-4 to the same opponents despite a top-notch performance.
On Tuesday, India were trailing 0-2 at half-time but first Deepika and then Baljeet Kaur scored two brilliant goals to help India hold the Dutch.
It was five minutes into the third quarter when Sunelita Toppo released Deepika on the left and she turned on the afterburners and made a run down the flanks. Upon entering the D, she made good use of some 3D skills to get the ball past the defender and finally put the ball above the goalkeeper and into the net.
It was marvellous and the crowd erupted with joy.
Eight minutes later, the second goal came. This time Sharmila Devi collected a long through pass, made a run down the right and played the ball to Baljeet. She sprinted towards the goal and played it past the Dutch goalkeeper and into the net.
The Dutch turned on the heat in the final quarter, but India kept them at bay and won the shoot-outs where Savita saved four of their five shots on the night.
India down England: Harmanpreet Singh scored twice from the penalty corners as India beat England 2-1 in the last game of the FIH Pro League mini tournament at Kalinga Stadium here on Tuesday night.
It was the first time that the Indian captain scored in the tournament, and he was pumped after finding the net on both occasions. Conor Williamson converted a penalty stroke at the stroke of half-time for England's lone strike.
Meanwhile, the game came to an end in what was a comedy of errors. There was a small tussle between the players, and it seemed the match was over. But the umpires went for a video review even as the fireworks went off. The players waited amid all this as the entire stadium was engulfed in a blanket of smoke. Finally, nothing came off the review and India bagged their fifth win of the tournament.