Hockey World League 2015: India takes Bronze after beating Netherlands on penalty shoot out
Indian player Rupinder Pal scored the final penalty stroke to beat Netherlands 3-2 in the penalties to take home the medal. The penalties shoot out was equally thrilling with Netherlands taking the first lead but Indian player Sreejesh played a talented goalie to deny Netherlands quick additional points as India's Bindra Lakra and Sardar Singh both scored to become even with Netherlands' score.
Manpreet Singh was awarded Man of the Match amid cheering crowd in Raipur – homeland. Manpreet thanked the crowd for being supportive and motivating throughout.
It was all going well for India with them having a 5-3 lead over Netherlands. But in the last few minutes of the game, Netherlands upped their strategy to quickly win two more goals and evened the score before the match time ended to result in a tie. Then came the nail-biting penalty shootout.
The official Twitter page of Hockey congratulated the Indian team and said: "And the Bronze medal is ours at the Hero #HWL2015! What a finish! What a match! Well done, boys! #HWL2015 proud of Sreejesh."
The win is considered especially respect-worthy for India because of Holland's reputation as one of the best teams in the world for hockey.
