Indian men, striving for a second successive podium finish at the Olympic Games, suffered a hiccup in the form of a defeat against defending champions Belgium at the Yves-du-Manior Stadium here on Thursday.
The Indians, who have already booked a berth in the quarter finals from the six-strong Pool B, would certainly have wanted to win this tough contest in order to finish higher in the points table and avoid a stronger team in the knockout rounds.
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The Indians began the match well by switching the ball from one wing to another with Hardik Singh being the playmaker but slowly and surely their challenge went down the drain under the hot sun.
They, in fact, took a 1-0 lead in the second 15-minute quarter through forward Abhishek’s stiff top of the circle effort in the 18th minute of the contest after he was fed through the middle of the field.
But the joy was short-lived as Belgium, who won the gold in the last Tokyo Games and were the World Cup winners in 2018, drew level early in the third quarter through a field goal scored by Thibeau Stockbroekx.
Belgium then surged into the lead one minute from the end of the third quarter off the third penalty corner in succession that they forced through an indirect effort. John-John Dohmen deflected in after Indian custodian Sreejesh had stopped a couple of shots.
India, who looked in good touch in the first two quarters, simply wilted thereafter in the scorching conditions and, in all, conceded seven penalty corners.
They also missed a few chances with Abhishek himself being foiled once as his hard shot from the right was stopped by rival custodian Vincent Vanasch.
Six minutes from the end India also saw Raj Kumar Pal being sent to the sin bin through a yellow card suspension.
Down to ten men the Harmanpreet Singh-led side had their last chance just a minute before the final buzzer sounded by earning their third and last penalty corner award but Harmanpreet was foiled and although he asked for a video referral it was of no avail.
“We had our chances, but we couldn’t convert them. Belgium took advantage of it and they converted their chances. We need to work on it for the next match,” said India’s goal scorer Abhishek after the match.
It was his first goal of the tournament and he felt that his confidence had gone up considerably ahead of the upcoming matches.
“I was fumbling a little in earlier matches. But after scoring the goal today, I feel very confident for the upcoming matches. The goal is so important. I have got the confidence back and I’m looking forward to the next few games,” he quipped.
This was the first defeat in four games for India and they stood third in the pool with seven points to their credit behind Belgium, who have an all-win record, and former champions Australia.
India have defeated New Zealand and Ireland but drew with Argentina before losing to Belgium.
India are to clash with Australia tomorrow to complete their round robin engagements.
The men’s quarter finals are scheduled on August 4.
