Dutch women claim hockey gold after 3-1 win over Argentina

ISLAMABAD: The Netherlands women added the Olympic gold medal to their World, European and FIH Hockey Pro League titles thanks to a 3-1 victory over Argentina, bringing a wonderful Hockey competition at the Tokyo Olympics to a close.

The win gave the Oranje their fourth Olympic crown, with the 2020 gold medal being added to those collected at Los Angeles 1984, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. For team captain Eva de Goede and star attacker Lidewij Welten, it is a third Olympic gold medal and a fourth in total, with both players having been part of the triumphant campaigns in 2008 and 2012 as well as winning silver at Rio 2016.

It is a fitting reward for a Netherlands side that has been the dominant force of women’s international hockey for the past five years, with the team coached by Alyson Annan — herself a double Olympic hockey gold medallist with Australia —absolutely justifying their position as pre-competition favourites.

Argentina made life incredibly difficult for the Netherlands in the first period, although Caia van Maasakker came close to opening the scoring when her penalty corner drag-flick rattled the Argentine crossbar.

The third quarter was decisive, with the Oranje opening up a three-goal lead that would prove too great a mountain for Las Leonas to climb. Margot van Geffen’s superb penalty corner tip-in broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute, before van Maasakker scored two unstoppable penalty corner drag-flicks to put the Dutch into a commanding lead.

However, Argentina hit back almost immediately when Agustina Gorzelany’s powerful penalty corner drag-flick squeezed between the legs of Netherlands goalkeeper Josine Koning, giving the South American giants a lifeline going into the final 30 minutes.

Argentina battled hard in an attempt to claw back the situation but found clear goal-scoring opportunities few and far between thanks to the magnificent Dutch defensive line, which only conceded four times in their eight matches here in Tokyo.