Kolkata: It could be a case of so-year-yet-so-far for India in their pursuit of ending an Olympic medal drought in hockey again. Despite playing their hearts out, Graham Reid’s men couldn’t improve on their head-to-head record against world champions Belgium, who struck late to prevail 5-2 in their semi-final on Tuesday.
Belgium will play the winner of the second semi-final between Australia and Germany later in the day - and it may not be an easy task for a demoralised India to punch above their weight once again for the bronze medal on Thursday. The eight-time gold medallists has lived up to the expectations of being a medal prospect so far, having made the last four after a gap of 49 years.
Alexander Hendrickx, one of the most feared drag-flickers in the world, scored a hat-trick to seal Belgium’s victory and leads the scorers’ tally with 14 goals now. He scored two off penalty corners in the 19th and 49th minute and one off a penalty stroke (53rd min) to put the match beyond India’s reach. Loick Fanny Luypaert (second) and John John Dohmen (60th) scored a goal apiece for Belgium, while Harmanpreet Singh (seventh) and Mandeep Singh (11th) were the Indian goalscorers in the match that started at a blistering pace.
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“We were here to win a gold medal. That was our aim, but we lost today,” said a crestfallen Rupinder Pal Singh, one of the most experienced players on the Indian side.
“The great thing is we have a chance to finish third in the next game so we will focus on that,” he said.
The Indians were quick to rally after going down with such an early goal and went up 2-1 within the first quarter himself. While Belgium drew level in the second half, the match wore an open look with the teams heading into the last quarter at 2-2. However, India lost their skipper Manpreet Singh due to a sin-bin at a crucial juncture when they needed him the most and the penalty corners returned to be their bugbear again.
An early chance created by India went in vain when forward Lalit Upadhyay tried to win a penalty corner but couldn’t connect. With a man down, Belgium won three consecutive penalty corners and Hendrickx scored off the third attempt to put Belgium 3-2 ahead again.
Under pressure, Indian defence started making infringements in the circle that gave away three more penalty corners in the following minutes. Though Sreejesh and Amit Rohidas were at the heart of India’s PC defence, the third short corner for Belgium turned into a penalty stroke. Hendrickx stepped up to convert it and completed his hat-trick as Belgium went up 4-2 lead and the match looked out of India’s reach.
In the final minutes, India chose to remove their goalie and put an extra attacker on the pitch but the risk did not yield fruits. While Harmanpreet’s tomahawk was saved well by Vanasch with one minute left, Belgium scored their fifth on a counterattack with John Dohmen striking for them.
