~Goals from Ashu Maurya and Rahul Rajbhar ensure victory for the Indian Sub Junior Men’s Team~
~Sub Junior Women’s Team were beaten 2-6 by the Netherlands U-16 Team~
Netherlands, 16th October 2023: A day of mixed results unfolded for the Indian Sub Junior Teams in their maiden international tour. The Men secured an impressive 4-2 victory against the Netherlands U-16 Men’s Team while the Women faced a challenging 2-6 defeat against the Netherlands U-16 Women’s Team.
In the men’s game, Vice-Captain Ashu Maurya gave India the lead as early as the first quarter, Netherlands came back to equalize the scoreline before halftime and eventually took a hard-fought lead. However, Deepak Pradhan tied the score for India and in the final minutes of the encounter, Ashu Maurya found the back of the net for the second time on the night, while Rahul Rajbhar also scored a late goal to complete a tremendous victory for India.
“This is a great victory for the squad, ” Indian Sub Junior Men’s Team Coach Sardar said, he further added, “To come back from a deficit and secure a victory in the final few minutes of the games shows immense character, we should take great pride in this victory.”
In the Women’s game, India were trailing Netherlands, 0-1, at half-time. While Kajal R continued her good form to score an equaliser for India in the third quarter, the Netherlands retorted with four consecutive goals before Captain Bhavya scored India’s second goal of the match in the final quarter. The Netherlands soon followed it up with another goal to ensure India would lose the match 2-6.
Former India Captain and Indian Sub Junior Women’s Team Coach Rani, said, “This might be another defeat for us, but we are looking to focus on the bigger picture which is the process of growth and development. Playing in foreign conditions is a challenging feat, especially for our Sub Junior Girls. Instead of dwelling on the loss, we are taking this opportunity to go back to the drawing board and identify areas of improvement.”
The Indian Sub Junior Men’s Team will next be in action against the Netherlands Boys U-16 Team on Monday, 16th October, followed by the Indian Sub Junior Women’s Team taking on the Netherlands Girls U-16 team
Please see the attached schedule and pictures.
India has also pioneered in bringing top International hockey events to India such as the FIH Men’s World Cup in 2010 and 2018, FIH Champions Trophy in 2014, FIH Junior Men’s World Cup in 2016 and 2021, FIH Hockey World League Final in 2017. With its vision to popularize the game and constantly promote it, Hockey India brought the Indian Men’s Hockey Team into the top three in the world. Hockey India is also dedicated to getting the Indian Women’s Hockey Team into the top three in the world.
