FIH Hockey Pro League | Indian men slip to third position after narrow loss to Belgium

After a few attempts, Belgium found an early opportunity in the 7th minute through a PC but a poor variation denied them a lead. Three minutes later, Jarmanpreet's assist to Sukhjeet Singh at the top of the circle opened up a brilliant chance for India to take the lead but Sukhjeet's shot went over the goalpost. Both teams played the next few minutes with caution, rotating the ball tactfully and creating space but neither team was successful in scoring a goal. 

After showing patience in their game, India finally broke the deadlock in the 25th minute when Gurjant teamed up with Lalit Upadhyay to set up a brilliant goal by Abhishek. Ahead by 1-0 at half-time, India came out of the ten-minute half-time break with a clear intent to increase their lead. 

Only moments later, Belgium scored a splendid goal in the 33rd minute when a good interception dispossessed India, setting up a brilliant run into the circle where Arthur de Sloover set up Nicolas de Kerpel to score. Kerpel sneaked the ball past India's vigilant custodian Sreejesh, into the extreme right corner of the post. The goal fetched the hosts a much-needed equalizer as they built on this attack to create many more opportunities in the following minutes.  

This was when a desperate body tackle by Sreejesh saw India concede a penalty stroke which was converted by Hendrickx with ease. Though, India fought back to the final second, with Manpreet Singh setting up India's second goal when he assisted Vivek Sagar in the circle. A quick-thinking Vivek pushed the ball to Mandeep Singh who deflected the ball past Belgium's keeper to narrow the lead to 2-3. But unfortunately, with just 30 seconds left, India's excellent fightback ended in disappointment.