Indian colts go down to Belgium in 4-Nations Invitational tourney

After beating Germany in their opener, the Indian junior men's hockey team went down 2-4 to Belgium in their second encounter at the 4-Nations Invitational tournament here.

On Wednesday, Belgium broke the dead lock right in the first minute of the game, winning a penalty corner right off their first attack which Victor Wegnez converted successfully 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. But Harmanpreet Singh brilliantly converted a second chance in the 11th minute to give India the equaliser.

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

In an eight minute spell in the second half, Belgium scored three goals: Fabrice Van Bockrijck (49th minute), Antoine Kina (56th) and Gregory Stockbroekx (57th) to take a vital three-goal lead.

Finding themselves in the backfoot, a desperate India kept on attacking which finally paid off as Ajay Yadav managed to reduce the gap with a goal in the 60th minute.

India tried hard to push in for more goals in the dying minutes but the Belgians held strong to take a 4-2 victory.

India will next play hosts Spain later on Thursday.

--IANS

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