Indian junior men's team kick off Europe tour with win over Belgium

The Indian junior men's team began their tour of Europe with a shoot-out win over Belgium in Antwerp.

After the 2-2 deadlock in regulation time, India prevailed over Belgium 4-2 in the shootout.

Vice-captain Shardanand Tiwari scored a brace for India.

The Indian team took the lead early in the game with Tiwari firing in a penalty stroke in the third minute of the match. They maintained their tempo throughout the first quarter to hold onto their lead going into the break.

The second quarter saw Tiwari return to double the team’s lead with yet another penalty stroke in the 27th minute as the first half ended with the visitors leading 2-0.

Belgium converted a penalty corner early in the third quarter to reduce the goal deficit to one. No further goals were scored in the quarter as the score read 2-1 in favour of the Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team at the end of the third quarter.

Although the Indian boys had a one-goal lead going into the final quarter, Belgium didn’t give them much breathing space and kept the pressure on them.

With just a few minutes left in the game, the Belgians converted yet another penalty corner to equalize. As no more goals were scored in the regulation time, the fourth quarter ended with the scoreline reading 2-2 taking the game into a shootout.

Gurjot Singh, Sourabh Anand Kushwaha, Dilraj Singh and Manmeet Singh scored for the Indian boys in the penalty shootout, while goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh made two brilliant saves as they won the penalty shoot-out 4-2 to begin their Europe tour with a win.

The Indian junior men's team will play their next match against Belgium in Breda, Netherlands on May 22.