Hockey
FIH Pro League: Indian men's and women's hockey team lose to Belgium
Both Indian hockey teams went down against hosts Belgium owing to defensive lapses and poor decision-making in the FIH Pro League.
Indian men's and women's teams look to make their best possible finishes at the FIH Pro League.
Indian men's and women's hockey teams crumbled against the host nation Belgium in the second game of the FIH Pro League in Antwerp on Thursday.
The men's team led by Harmanpreet Singh lost 1-4 against the hosts while the women's team lost 0-2 making it a second consecutive loss for them.
In the women's match, the Indian team lost 0-2 against Belgium and looked devoid of ideas during the game.
Defence costs the men's team the game
Coming on the back of a good game against Argentina, the Indian men's team was poor in their defensive structure and the same resulted in Belgium scoring two counterattack goals out of four to punish the defensive lapses of the Indian team.
Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh also had a poor game by his standards as his decision-making and positioning were questionable in the first and the third goal.
India did well in the first half as they countered Belgium's attack but the defence looked shaky with the likes of Jugraj Singh and Jarmanpreet Singh struggling to keep up the pace of lightning-quick counters.
The first goal came in the 22nd minute for Belgium as Jugrag Singh failed to backtrack Felix Denayer and Sreejesh came early to give space and time for Denayer to open the scoring.
Alexander Hendrickx scored from the penalty corner to make it 2-0 after the start of the second half.
India tried countering Belgium and attacked their circle but some poor decision-making in the last three saw India wasting a couple of attacking chances.
Charlier Cedric scored a world-class goal when he finished outrageously to make it 3-0.
India pulled one back in as Abhishek dribbled past a couple of defenders in the Belgian circle, he found his way past to sound the board and make it 1-3.
However, India conceded a penalty stroke in the last moment with Hendrickx making no mistake from the spot to make it 4-1.
The women's team needs to work on the basics
Earlier in the day, the Indian women's team also lost to the host Belgium as T Serstevens and Dewaet scored the two goals to win the game.
The Indian team did well in the first half to keep the Belgian team at bay with some good defending and the heroics of Savita Punia who was back in the team after missing the first game.
However, the second half was a different story as the Belgians were rampant with their attacks to score two goals. Both goals came on the back of big defensive lapses.
New coach Harendra Singh needs to address some basics such as trapping the ball and executing the perfect routines in penalty corners.
Both teams will play Belgium on 25th May with the men's team playing at 7:45 PM IST and the women's team playing at 5:30 PM IST.
