Hockey
Tokyo Olympics: Hockey Day 11: India vs Belgium — Semi final — Preview, schedule, Live Streaming, when and where to watch
A preview of the Men's Hockey Semi final between India and Belgium to be played on Tuesday.
Rupinder and Harmanpreet will be looking to fire for India (Source: Hockey India )
The Indian men's hockey team will play Belgium in a historic Semi final of the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday morning.
The Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo will host the match which is arguably the most important fixture in the history of Indian hockey in the last four decades.
Standing between India and a place in the Olympic final are the Belgians - who have stunned the hockey world by veering ahead of their European rivals like Germany and the Netherlands to enter the league of the Big Two.
Australia and Belgium have been involved in some epic contests over the past few years and also a game of musical chairs with regard to occupying the top spot in the FIH Rankings.
Tuesday's encounter is fascinatingly poised now that the Indians have risen to become World No 3 and the top four teams as per the FIH are now in the Semi final of the Tokyo Olympics. Australia takes on Germany on Tuesday evening while the Indians will be up against Belgium in the morning session.
Belgium - one of the most experienced teams at the Tokyo Olympics Games take on India - one of the youngest in the competition. Alexander Hendrickx, the PC machine, has scored 11 thus far and the Indians will need to ensure that they keep things tidy in their circle.
The 2-2 draw against Belgium at the Odisha World Cup in 2018 is what most Indian hockey fans remember to this day although the Indians also won and lost an encounter against the Red Lions at the same venue as part of the Hockey Pro League in 2020.
The Indians are on a roll and that is precisely what works in their favour against an opponent they lost to in the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016. Knowing what's at stake and what it's taken to reach this far, Manpreet and Singh and co. would hardly be willing to let the golden opportunity slip by.
Both teams will look to start cautiously in the all-important game and India's PC defence who have done reasonably well so far will be working overtime to get a hang of Hendrickx's moves as the Belgian camp attempt to decode why Rupinder Pal Singh has become a force to reckon with after a while in the dark.
We know, you wouldn't miss the action which begins at 0700 IST on Tuesday, August 3.
Where to watch
You can catch all the action LIVE on Sony Sports Network channels in India. Here are the details of broadcasters in some more countries:
Japan: The Japan Consortium
USA: NBC Universal
UK: BBC, Eurosport
China: CCTV
Australia: Seven Network
Germany: ARD-ZDF
Brazil: Grupo Globo, Bandsports
Spain: RTVE
Italy: RAI
France: Eurosport
South Africa: SABC
