India hold Holland 2-2 in second leg of Punjab Gold Cup

India hold Holland 2-2 in second leg of Punjab Gold Cup Chandigarh, Feb 4 (PTI) India held European champions Holland 2-2 in a hard fought high voltage encounter that marked the first match in the second leg of the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup hockey tournament here tonight.India, who drew the Dutch 4-4 in the first leg, fell back twice but came back strongly to hold their mighty rivals.
Both India and Holland are on eight points from four matches and with two more ties remaining, have almost assured themselves of a title showdown.
Olympic champions Germany and New Zealand are on two points each after four matches.
The Dutch today earned four penalty corners and managed to convert one while India could not come up with any.
The visitors took the lead three minutes before the breather. Jeroen Hertzberger caught the Indian defence napping and his reverse flick found the back of the net.
However, they could not hold on to the lead for long as India equalised within two minutes of resumption.
Shivender Singh collected a long ball from Dilip Tirkey and went past rival goalkeeper Stockmamm before sending the ball into the net.
Holland earned their first penalty corner in the 16th minute of the second half but failed to convert it.
However, they earned another one in the very next minute and Geert Jan Derikx sent the rebound past goalkeeper Baljit Singh to give Holland a 2-1 lead. PTI