Hamilton, January 28
India suffered a 0-3 loss via a penalty shootout to Belgium after a 4-4 draw in the regulation time in the final of the second leg of the Four Nations Invitational Hockey Tournament.
Felix Denayer, Sebastien Dockier and Arthur van Doren scored for Belgium in the shootout to give the team a win. Tanguy Cosyns (41st min), Cedric Charlier (43rd min), Amaury Keusters (51st min) and Felix Denayer (56th min) scored during the regulation time.
For India, Ramandeep Singh (29th, 53rd mins), Nilakanta Sharma (42nd min) and Mandeep Singh (49th min) were the goalscorers for India in the regulation time at the Gallagher Hockey Stadium.
Earlier, Japan beat hosts New Zealand 4-1 in a shootout to win the bronze medal after holding the Black Sticks 1-1 in the regulation time. The final between India and Belgium was yet another goalfest with both the teams testing each other in a high-voltage encounter. It was a steady start for India as they were made to work hard to keep the ball. The Belgian attack kept Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh busy through the first quarter with as many as three penalty corners including a penalty stroke. The first penalty corner in the eighth minute was kept away by Sreejesh, who lunged to his right to make a save. Sreejesh kept India alive by saving Loick Luypaert’s penalty stroke.
India won two back-to-back penalty corners at the start of the second quarter but could not make much of them. But they grabbed a 1-0 lead a minute before halftime when Mandeep Singh set up Ramandeep to push the ball in. The action intensified in the third quarter with Belgium scoring an equaliser in the 41st minute through Cosyns’s well-executed penalty corner.
Moments later, India regained the lead after Nilakanta was quick to pick up a beautiful assist from Mandeep to strike the ball past Vincent Vanasch into the goalpost. Belgium levelled 2-2 the following minute when Charlier’s reverse-hit breached Sreejesh’s defence.
Fightback
In the final quarter, India won back their lead twice (3-2, 4-3) when Mandeep scored in the 49th minute followed by a sensational goal by Ramandeep in the 53rd minute. But Belgium stayed in the hunt, snatching India’s lead through Keusters (51st min) and Denayer (56th min) to ensure the match went into a penalty shootout.
India had lost to Belgium in the final of the first leg in Tauranga too. — IANS
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