India loses 1-2 to Belgium, finishes 6th in World League Final

New Delhi: Hosts India blew away a goal lead and conceded two late goals to go down 1-2 against Belgium to finish sixth in the Hero Hockey World League Final on a chilly evening at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, here today.

It was a hard-fought match between the two sides as both India and Belgium matched each other stick by stick and were in no mood to give an inch to the other in the fifth-sixth place classification game.

Jonker's hat-trick hands Dutch HWL Final title

Vice-captain P R Sreejesh had a busy outing today under the Indian goal but the lanky custodian pulled off numerous saves throughout the entire 70 minutes to keep India in the hunt till the final hooter.

After a barren but competitive first half, India drew the first blood in the 59th minute through a field goal from Nikkin Thimmaiah to send the significant home crowd present at the stadium into raptures.

But India did not have the last laugh as the Red Lions made a spirited fightback, pumping in two goals in a span of two minutes at the dying stages of the match to secure the fifth position in the eight-team event.

The sixth place finish here is certain to give a major boost to India's world rankings. India are presently lying 10th in the world rankings but the performance here is certain to help India jump three places to the seventh position in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings.

However, Belgium, who are currently ranked fifth in the world, are likely to slip to the sixth place when FIH rankings will be released after the conclusion of this tournament.

India were yet again slow to get off the blocks as Belgium dominated the early share of possession.

Belgium made a promising start and raided the Indian goal as early as in the second minute but an agile Sreejesh denied Tom Boon's reverse shot.

 Young Affan Yousuf, who was impressive upfront, managed to get India's first scoring chance in the 13th minute but he shot over after some fine work from the right flank.

Cedric Charlier wasted another opportunity for Belgium soon when he shot over after catching the Indian defence off-guard.

Affan again missed a golden opportunity to put India ahead in the 24th minute when he failed to get his stick to the ball from S V Sunil's cross from the right.

If Belgium looked threatening in the first half, the Indians seized the initiative after the change of ends with some impressive forays.

But it was Belgium who had scoring opportunities first in the second half. The Red Lions earned three quick penalty corners in a span of five minutes but wasted all.

Sreejesh stood like a rock in front of the Indian goal to keep away Loick Luyapert from Belgium's first set piece in the 48th minute.

Belgium, thereafter, wasted two more penalty corners and then India reciprocated when Rupinderpal Singh's flick from India's first and only set piece was saved by Belgian goalkeeper Vincent Vanash.

India finally managed to break the deadlock in the 59th minute through Nikkin. Belgium custodian Vanansh made a double save to first deny Affan and then M B Aiyappa, but an opportunistic Nikkin pushed home from close range after the ball fell in front of his sticks.

Stunned by the goal, Belgium went all out and put the Indian defence under relentless pressure with continuous raids.

Their efforts bore fruit when Van Aubel got the faintest touch to deflect home Luypaer's bisecting cross from the middle to help Belgium draw level.

It was heartbreak for India in the next minute when Boon converted Belgium's fourth penalty corner to score the winner.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Olympic champions Germany eked out a narrow 2-1 win over Argentina to finish seventh.

Performance in HWL Final gave India self belief: Walsh

Performance in HWL Final gave India self belief: Walsh

New Delhi: India finished sixth ahead of Olympic champions Germany in Hero Hockey World League Final here and its chief coach Terry Walsh today said his wards' performance in the eight-nation event gave the past masters the self belief to take on any side in the world.

India lost 1-2 to Belgium in a keenly-contested fifth-sixth place classification match on a chilly evening at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium today to eventually finish ahead of Germany and Argentina.

"We have learnt a lot from this tournament. This tournament gave us the self belief to play any team in the world, which not necessarily means a win," Walsh said at the post-match press conference.

"We came a long way in a short time. So all the credit goes to the support staff and the group of players," he said.

"I am really pleased with the growth we made, the change we made. We are growing as a group. We should reasonably be in a good place by the Asian Games."

Placed 10th in the FIH rankings, the Indians had plenty of positives to take home from this tournament as the sixth place finish will definitely give a major boost to their world rankings which will be updated after this tournament.

The relatively young India team, fielded for this tournament, held Germany to a 3-3 draw in the pool stages before beating the reigning Olympic champions 5-4 in the 5-8th place play-off game.

India also started brilliantly against world champions Australia in the quarterfinal and took a 2-0 lead before running out of steam and finally losing 2-7.

Against fifth ranked Belgium today, India took the lead in the 59th minute through Nikkin Thimmaiah before conceding two late goals to lose the encounter.

Walsh was full of praise for his boys but the Australian didn't mince words when it came to point out errors.

"To go without goals till the 59th minute shows that our defence is improving. (Goalkeeper) P R Sreejesh was brilliant. He made many saves for us. But Sardar (Singh) didn't have the best outing today," the coach said."Towards the end we conceded careless goals and you can't be doing this in a big tournament. But our young strikers did a good job. Yuvraj (Walmiki) and Affan (Yousuf) produced solid performances and that's the positive to come out of this tournament," Walsh said.

"They need more experience but they showed (here) that they can play."

Walsh also hailed Belgium for their spirited fight back.

"Belgium dominated the first period and we won the first half of the second period. They created opportunities than we did," he said.

India captain Sardar Singh agreed with his coach and said the win against Germany did a world of good to their confidence.

"As I said before we need to win more matches against world's top teams to raise our confidence. The players felt mentally stronger after the win against Germany. The more we play top teams the more our confidence will grow," he said.