FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2023-24: Undone by Belgian aggression, India go down 1-4 in Antwerp
The Indian men's hockey team went down 1-4 against an aggressive and determined Belgian side in an FIH Men's Hockey Pro League mini-tournament encounter on Thursday, May 23.
The Belgians, who were stunned by Ireland earlier, came hard at India right from the opening minute. But they missed a flurry of scoring chances before Felix Denayer gave the home side the lead in the second quarter.
Alexander Hendrickx's lethal drag flick doubled Belgium's lead before Cedric Charlier added to the tally in the final quarter. Abhishek's brilliance gave the visitors a consolation goal but Hendrickx scored off a penalty stroke at the death to add to India's woes in Antwerp.
Tanguy Cosyns thought he had scored in the sixth minute but hit the post before the Indians had another stroke of luck as the ball missed the goalline by a whisker.
Cosyns shot wide with four minutes to go before the end of the opening quarter as the Belgians switched on the afterburners. A diving Cosyns missed a sitter again as the Indian deep defence was put to a stern test by the marauding Red Lions.
Craig Fulton's team attempted a few lofted balls before India earned a short corner against the run of play in the 18th minute. Loic van Doren denied the Indians with three back-to-back athletic saves after Harmanpreet Singh took the initial drag-flick.
Cosyns, a Rio Olympics veteran, had another chance to score off a counterattack after the Indians failed to convert their second short corner in the 20th minute.
Felix Denayer finally scored the opening goal in the 22nd minute after PR Sreejesh saved one but was unable to direct the rebound to safety.
Nicolas de Kerpel earned a penalty corner for the Olympic champions four minutes after half-time. Alexander Hendrickx did what he does best by scoring Belgium's second goal with a probing drag-flick.
Jarmanpreet Singh did well to clear the lines in the nick of time after Sreejesh lost the ball while leaving his post at the end of the third quarter.
An outrageous strike from the edge of the circle from Cedric Charlier who benefited from an opportunistic pass from Denayer helped Belgium move ahead with a commanding 3-0 lead in the 49th minute.
Abhishek who scored with a thundering tomahawk with five minutes left on the clock gave the Indians a chance to manufacture a comeback in their tenth Hockey Pro League game.
Alexander Hendrickx, however, scored off a penalty stroke in the 60th minute to seal the deal for the home side.
How does the Hockey Pro League points table stack up currently?
Following the loss to Belgium, the Indians now have 17 points from 10 matches - just the same as the Argentinians in the Men's Hockey Pro League points table. India and Argentina played out a 2-2 draw on Wednesday before the Indians won a bonus point for the shootout.
Australia has played 8 games and has 20 points while the Dutch lead the points table with 26 points from 12 games.
The Indians will face Belgium in the second leg match of the ongoing mini-tournament on May 25 before taking on Argentina on Sunday.
Belgium, who suffered a shock defeat to Ireland on Wednesday now have 6 points from as many games this Hockey Pro League season.