Two goals in as many minutes just three minutes before the final hooter saw India lose their classification match to Belgium and finish sixth in the Hero Hockey World league (HWl) Final on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 0-1 till the 66th minute, Belgian intruders pressurized the hosts’ backline to earn two set-pieces.
They equalised after skipper John-john Dohmen’s free hit was deflected in by Florent van Aubel, who blocked custodian’s PR Sreejesh’s view to his team’s advantage. later Tom Boon’s penalty corner hit gave them the 2-1 win. That goal was Boon’s fifth goal of the tournament.
Earlier on, after the 5-4 performance against Germany, Terry Walsh’s wards seemed short on pace and energy and wasted a lot of opportunities, especially off SV Sunil, whose crosses were not met on two occasions. However, Affan Yousuf was bubbly throughout the match and on one occasion, his and Birendra lakra’s hit were blocked by rival goalkeeper Vincent Vanash and the ball went near Nikkin Thimmiah, who celebrated his 24th birthday by tapping the ball in from point blank range.
Finishing sixth in the eight-nation tournament, is a good result for the Sardar Singh-led side and the tournament presented has been a good opportunity to assess themselves before the much-important World Cup in May-June