Eindhoven (Netherlands), July 21 (IANS) India A men’s hockey team ended their Europe Tour campaign with a 2-8 loss against the Netherlands with young Indian midfielder Rajinder Singh and forward Selvam Karthi scoring the two goals for India A in the final match. India A had lost their previous match against the Netherlands on July 18 with a 0-3 scoreline.

India A had kicked off their Euro tour on July 8 and played a total of eight matches against five European teams during this tour. The team travelled across three cities to compete against some of the top hockey teams in the world, including the World No. 1 Netherlands and World No. 3 Belgium.

Talking about the overall experience, India A coach Shivendra Singh said, “While we might have had more losses than wins during this European Tour, it was never about the results and more about learning and experience we gained from this tour as a team.”

He went on to add, “We had a mix of senior and junior players as part India A, and they gained very valuable experience during the past two weeks. As we head back to India, I am confident that all these players will use this valuable experience and incorporate it to better their game for all their future matches.”

India A played against, Ireland, France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands during this exposure tour and won a total of three of their eight matches.

India A men’s team kickstarted their tour of Europe with a dominant 6-1 victory over Ireland and continued its impressive run in the second match , securing a convincing 6-0 victory over the same opponent. They registered yet another important win when they defeated France 3-2 in their third game of their tour of Europe.

–IANS

ab/bc