Bhubaneswar: India’s hope to lift the World Cup Hockey 2018 trophy after 43 years was crashed on Thursday as it faced the 1-2 defeat from Netherland in the quater-final played here at the crowded Kalinga Stadium.
India’s Akashdeep Singh scored the first goal in the 12th minute to give his team the early lead. However, the Dutch team’s Thierry Brinkmann brought the game to the level by scoring the equlizer goal in the 14th minute. However, visiting team’s Weerden scored the victory goal in the 50th minute giving little time to the host team to match score. The golden opportunity to square things off could not materialised as Harmanpreet’s shot was saved by the Dutch goalkeeper.
Now Netherland will meet Australia in the semi-finals on Saturday. Belgium, which defeated two time champion Germany by 2-1 early in the day on Thursday will play against England in the semi-finals on Saturday.
