Jolt for hockey eves'

Indian women hockey team suffered a major jolt in their Beijing Olympic qualifying mission as the lowly placed Netherlands Antilles team handed over a 1-2 defeat to India in their second match of the women's hockey Olympic qualifiers played at Kazan in Russia on Sunday.

The demoralising loss gave a denting blow to India’s chances of making it to Beijing and now Indian team will have to win their rest of the matches to keep them in contention.

Claire Visser's single-handed effort gave Netherlands Antilles the lead four minutes before the breather. Young Rani Devi restored parity for India eight minutes into the second half.

Indian team had to blame themselves as they squandered as many as three penalty corners. The Indian team had the better ball possession and they also loomed over rival’s team penalty area for hell lot of time but couldn’t succeed in finding the net.

Maria Hinskens scored the eventual winner midway through the second half by converting a quick free hit. India, which opened up its campaign after defeating Russia 3-1 in its first match, now plays Belgium in its next match on Tuesday.