Men in Blue have lost the semifinal match against world champions Belgium 2-5 to contend for the Bronze medal. Belgium reached their second successive Olympic final and will face the winner between Australia or Germany at the Tokyo Olympics final.
Alexander Hendrickx scored a hat-trick, while two of their goals came in the fourth quarter where Dohmen netted at the final minutes to lengthen the lead as they took the game to a distinct level in the last minutes with their possession.
Belgium started with an early lead when Loick Luypaert netted at the very beginning minute of the first quarter. He put his side ahead at the second minute of the game only but it didn’t last long as Harmanpreet converted the second Penalty Corner into an equaliser at the seventh minute followed by Mandeep’s backhand strike just a minute later to put India ahead.
Hendrickx came up and managed to equalise at the minute 19′ while the scoreline remained the same as 2-2 at halftime and no team could score into the third quarter as well.
Belgium took the lead heading into the final quarter at the 49th minute as Hendrickx scored his second followed by his 53rd-minute goal which he scored converting the Penalty Stroke past Sreejesh for his hat-trick and left Indians trailing at 2-4 with just a few minutes left.
The trouble didn’t last for the Blues and the Belgians ended the game with a goal at the stoppage time through Dohmen’s strike to end the gold medal dream for India. “Win and losses are a part of life”, tweeted prime minister Narendra Modi.
Wins and losses are a part of life. Our Men’s Hockey Team at #Tokyo2020 gave their best and that is what counts. Wishing the Team the very best for the next match and their future endeavours. India is proud of our players.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 3, 2021
