Breda (The Netherlands), May 24 (PTI) The Indian junior men's hockey team fought hard after a sluggish start but could not prevent a 4-5 loss to local Dutch side Bredase Hockey Vereniging Push in its third match of the ongoing tour of Europe here.

After a narrow 2-2 (4-2) penalty shootout victory, India had slumped to a 2-3 loss to the Belgium junior side in their previous match.

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Captain Rohit (18th minute), Sourabh Anand Khushwaha (24th), Ankit Pal (32nd), and Arshdeep Singh (58th) sounded the board for India, but the side was unable to overturn the five-goal deficit on Thursday.

Bredase Hockey Vereniging Push began the game aggressively, earning a penalty corner and scoring from it in just over a minute.

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In the very next minute, the local side overpowered the Indian defence to score another penalty corner goal.

The Indian colts resisted the initial pressure and attempted to score but fell short as Bredase Hockey Vereniging Push held firm and finished the first quarter with a 2-0 lead.

Determined to gain a foothold in the game, India earned a penalty stroke as the second quarter began and captain Rohit stepped up to score from the spot.

The respite was short-lived as Bredase Hockey Vereniging Push bounced back to earn another penalty corner and breached India's goal again.

Sourabh Anand Khushwaha scored through a penalty corner to reduce the deficit to a goal heading into the second half.

A splendid comeback seemed on the cards as Ankit Pal scored a field goal two minutes into the third quarter but Bredase Hockey Vereniging Push took control of the game and went on to restore their lead in the 42nd minute and end the quarter 4-3 in their favour.

The intensity stepped up a notch in the final quarter as India continued to look for a chink in Bredase Hockey Vereniging Push's defence. Arshdeep Singh breached the net in the 58th minute to make it 4-4.

But Bredase Hockey Vereniging Push refused to give up and scored in the last minute to win the match 5-4.

The Indian junior men's team will play its next match against Germany in Mönchengladbach on May 28.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)