Women's hockey hopes dashed in Kazan

India suffered a huge setback in their quest to book a spot for Beijing when they went down 1-2 to Netherlands Antilles in their second match of the women's hockey Olympic qualifiers here on Sunday.

The loss dealt a severe blow to India's chances of making it to Beijing and now have to win their remaining matches to keep its chances alive.

Claire Visser's solo following India's abortive penalty corner attack gave Netherlands Antilles the lead in the 31st minute.

Young Rani Devi got equalised eight minutes into the second half, but even as India went in search of the winning goal and wasted three penalty corners, another counter-attack got the tiny nation their proud moment.

Maria Hinskens got the winner in the 55th minute converting a quick free hit.

"Never a moment we thought we could win this match," said their elated captain Ernestina Schreuder.

"This was the best match since I took over the team in 2005," said Bas Swildens, the coach of the winning team.

"We once beat Spain in a friendly. This is totally a different game. Indian statistics must be terrible. They entered the circle more than 20-25 times against a couple of times by us. This victory is definitely a boost," he added.

No regret for relay pullout: Bhutia

Baichung Bhutia, the captain of the Indian football team has finally broken his silence over his controversial pullout from the Olympic torch relay held in New Delhi on April 17.

''I have absolutely no regrets,'' said Baichung while speaking to Barkha Dutt on We the People programme on NDTV.

Bhutia had decided to drop out of the torch relay in India to show his solidarity with the Tibetan protests.

''I sympathize with the Tibetan cause. I have many friends in Sikkim who follow Buddhism. This is my way of standing by the people of Tibet and their struggle. I abhor violence in any form,'' he had told a national daily at the time of his pullout from the relay.