Handling the immense burden of expectations would perhaps be the key when the Indian men’s hockey team takes on world champion Belgium, aiming to secure a place in the Olympic finals and with it, a medal for the first time in 41 years here on Tuesday.
With 11 Olympic medals, eight of them Gold, in its kitty, India has a rich history in the Games and the Manpreet Singh-led side seems on course to resurrect that glorious past.
The Indians achieved the semifinal slot by beating Great Britain 3-1 in the quarterfinals on Sunday, and are now in touching distance of a medal.
The Graham Reid-coached current side knows very well that another good outing against Belgium on Tuesday would etch its name in the history books in golden words no matter the colour of the medal.
The Indians are on a four-match winning streak after the 1-7 drubbing against Australia in their second pool match and come Tuesday, Manpreet and his teammates would look to continue the momentum.
But it would be easier said than done as in Belgium, India face a tough opponent, which has improved leaps and bounds in the last few years.
Besides being current world champions and world No 2 side, Belgium are also the reigning European champions.
Going by rankings, however, there is hardly anything to separate between the two sides as India are currently ranked third in the world.
The recent head-to-head record also favours India.
India and the Red Lions played each other three times in 2019 during their tour of the European nation and the Asian side came out victorious in all the matches. India defeated Belgium 2-0, 3-1 and 5-1 in the three games during that tour.
In the most recent outing in March this year, India beat Belgium 3-2 during their Europe tour. In fact, in their last five matches against Belgium, the Indians have registered four wins.
However, the last time both the sides met each other in the Olympics, Belgium came out 3-1 winners in Rio.