FIH Pro Hockey League Men’s: Indian team stun defending Olympic Champions in a thrilling encounter

 The Indian men’s team returned to FIH Pro Hockey League with a thrilling win over defending Champions Belgium in a thrilling encounter played at Antwerp on Saturday.

India began the first quarter on a good note with two back-to-back penalty corners. The second one was brilliantly saved by the Belgian goalkeeper. Akashdeep Singh missed a golden chance of scoring a goal. Belgium earned their first penalty corner, but PR Sreejesh produced a stunning save. Both teams played end-to-end hockey. Belgium got their second penalty corner but again PR Sreejesh came to the rescue. Hardik Singh was given a green card for a stick tackle. It was a superb game of hockey by both India and Belgium. At the end of the first quarter, the scores remained 0-0.

Shamsher scored a brilliant field goal with a brilliant move by Lalit Upadhyay in the 18^th minute to give India a 1-0 lead. The defending Champions Belgium made it 1-1 with Charlier deflecting it into a goal in the 21^st minute. Both teams played attacking hockey earning penalty corners. The game went at great speed. The Indian team missed some golden chances of scoring goals. At the end of the first half, the scores remained at 1-1.

The third quarter began with India earning a penalty corner, but Belgium's goalkeeper produced another superb save. Indian team again missed another golden chance of scoring a goal. Goungard converted a brilliant field goal in the 36^th minute to give Belgium a 2-1 lead. Belgium dominated the possession as the Indian defense was caught napping. The Indian team missed another few good chances of scoring goals. At the end of the 3^rd quarter, Belgium led 2-1.

It was another superb start to the final quarter with India showing intent but lacking the final touches. Kerpel Nicolas converted a penalty corner with a brilliant drag-flick in the 51^st minute to give Belgium a 3-1 lead. India was awarded a penalty stroke and Harmanpreet Singh converted in the 52^nd minute to reduce the gap to 2-3. India pressed hard with brilliant play earning multiple penalty corners.

India earned 3 penalty corners in 15 seconds. Jarmanpreet Singh converted one of the penalty corners in the 58^th minute to level the scores at 3-3. Belgium was awarded three successive PCs, but the Indian team did not let into a goal. The match ended at 3-3 at end of full time.

The game had lots of twists and turns right from the word go. India had 31 circle penetrations as compared to 25 by Belgium. India earned 9 penalty corners as compared to 8 for Belgium.

It was another thrilling affair in the penalty shootouts also. From Belgium, Boccard scored first while Harmanpreet equaled the score at 1-1. Cosyns made it 2-1 for Belgium and then Abhishek Sharma again made it 2-2.

Goungard made it 3-2 in favor of Belgium while Lalit again equaled the score at 3-3. The match was again level as Sloover converted to make 4-3 and Shamsher made it 4-4. Belgium was awarded a penalty corner, but P Sreejesh produced a stunning save from Kerpel.

Akashdeep Singh converted the penalty shootout to give India a thrilling 5-4 win. With this win, India maintained its second place with 29 points while the Netherlands occupies 1^st place defeating Germany by 3-2 in another thrilling encounter.

India will play their second leg tomorrow against Belgium. The audience will be hoping for another cracking encounter.

 

India men's team stun Belgium in a penalty shootout