On Saturday, the Indian men's hockey team achieved a dream debut in the FIH Pro League by beating the world's third-ranked team 5–2 in the opening clash in the two-match bout. Rupinder Pal Singh converted two penalty corners in the 12th and 46th minute, while Gurjant Singh scored in the first minute and Mandeep Singh in the 34th and Lalit Upadhyay scored superb field goals in the 36th minute. For the Netherlands, Jip Janssen scored in the 14th and Jeroen Hurtberger scored in the 28th minute.
The Indian team, which did not play in the first leg of the Pro League, made a great start to the preparations for the Tokyo Olympics. The Indian team is now going to play the second match on Sunday. With the help of Gurjant, the Indians started brilliantly by taking the lead within 30 seconds. Gurjant scored with the help of striker Mandeep, beating Netherlands goalkeeper Pirmin Block. Two minutes before the end of the second quarter, the Netherlands equalized with a field goal from Hurtberger to make it 2–2, which remained at half time. After the break, the Indian team was filled with enthusiasm and in the fourth minute of the third quarter, Mandeep gave the lead by scoring from captain Manpreet. A minute later India got another penalty corner but Rupinder's drag flick shot went away. Lalit increased the lead of the home team, he scored a close goal with the help of Harmanpreet.
The Indian defensive line was also agile and blocked three penalty corners of the rival team. India made the score 5-2 in the very first minute of the fourth and final quarter when Rupinder scored his second goal on another penalty corner which was a success for the Indian team. India secured another penalty corner in the 53rd minute from the sixth video referral but Amit Rohidas could not take advantage of it.
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