Indian colts go down to Belgium in 4-Nations tourney

The Indian junior men's hockey team failed to capitalize on their winning start at the Four-Nations Invitational tournament as they went down to Belgium 2-4 in their second encounter here last evening.

Belgium broke the deadlock right in the first minute of the game when Victor Wegnez converted a penalty corner into a goal to give them the early lead.

The game's pace dropped a bit after the goal, with both teams playing the game in the midfield, trying to get a foothold in the game. India won themselves a penalty corner in the fourth minute, but the attempt was saved by Loic Van Doren in Belgium's goal. They had a second penalty corner, eleven minutes in, and from the ensuing attempt, Harmanpreet Singh converted to drag them level.

The teams exchanged several penalty corner opportunities through the rest of the half, but failed to convert and went into the break, level at 1-1.

In an eight minute spell in the second half, Belgium scored three goals; Fabrice Van Bockrijck (49'), Antoine Kina (56') and Gregory Stockbroekx (57') scoring to put Belgium three goals clear.

Belgium were then content to sit back and allow India to attack, while they looked to play on the counter.

Ajay Yadav scored a goal in the 60th minute, but despite India's constant forays into the circle and attacking intent, Belgium held strong to take a 4-2 victory.

Earlier, India kicked off their tournament with a thumping 3-1 win over Germany on Tuesday.

The Indian junior men's hockey team will next lock horns with the hosts, Spain later today.