Why Indian women hockey’s loss to Netherlands is heartwarming moment
It’s not often that the conqueror looks more disillusioned than the vanquished.Raul Ehren, the Dutch coach, was disconsolate that his team didn’t play up to its lofty standards. His Indian counterpart Harendra Singh looked upbeat that, for long spells, his players ‘troubled’ the Netherlands and that their game plan was ‘well executed’. The players from both teams, as they trudged back to their dug-outs, mirrored their coaches emotions.
Going purely by the body-language, it would have been difficult for the uninitiated to tell the winner from the loser. For the record, it was the Netherlands who won 4-2. A scoreline flattering for many but ‘problematic’ for the Dutch.
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Then, the context too would have been lost on most.
This was a battle of uneq...