Monchengladbach: India's dream run in the Women's Junior Hockey World Cup came to a halt after defending champions Netherlands defeated them 3-0 in the second semi-final, here Friday.
The Indians, who registered their best ever performance in this tournament, put up a brave fight against their fancied rivals but it was not enough to earn them a place in the title clash.
The Dutch girls sounded the board thrice through Lieke van Wijk (17th minute), Lisanne de Lange (57th) and Lisa Scheerlinck (68th) to complete a resounding victory and seal their place in Sunday's final. While Netherlands will face Argentina in the summit clash, India will take on England for the third-fourth place play off match on Sunday.
In the first semi-final, Argentina defeated England by an identical 3-0 margin. In the first half, much of the action was centred around the midfield as both the teams struggled to create promising scoring opportunities from open play.
India put an inspired performance in the opening 17 minutes before Netherlands took the lead through tournament's top-scorer van Wijk, who converted her side's first penalty corner with a fierce dragflick that beat rival goalkeeper Chanu Sanarik Ningombam all ends up. A few minutes later, the Dutch girls forced another penalty corner but the resultant shot went wide.
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