The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : India overcomes Belgium

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Thursday, Jul 15, 2004

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Sport - Hockey

India overcomes Belgium

NIVELLES (BELGIUM), JULY 14 . India overcame a defiant and tenacious Belgium to register a 3-1 win in their first `friendly' hockey match here.

India, which led 1-0 at the break, scored through Sandeep Singh, Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh in the match played on Tuesday night.

This was India's first match on the second leg of their pre-Olympic preparations.

The 21-man squad, which is undergoing training at Leverkusen in Germany, has come to Nivelles to play two matches against Belgium, before they embark on the Dusseldorf four-nation tournament on Friday.

Sandeep Singh put India ahead early in the first session (10th minute) with his powerful drag flick off the first penalty corner. This was awarded after Arjun Halappa was deliberately brought down in the Belgian circle.

India mounted the onslaughts after taking the lead but their physically stronger and hard tackling opponents gave very little room for manoeuvring within the 23m area.

The Indian forwards also missed many chances as they frittered away some sitters and failed to make full use of the cross passes from the midfield.

Belgium, which held India in the Olympic qualifier at Madrid in March, conceded the second goal in the 51st minute when Deepak Thakur pushed home after veteran Dhanraj Pillay had set him up from the right.

The host fought back with many forays into the Indian circle and succeeded in earning five penalty corners.

While goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza aborted four of these, the fifth one was deflected in off a defender's stick.

Stung with this reversal, India struck back immediately to make it 3-1 (63rd minute) when Prabhjot Singh scored after a midfield combination play by Ignace Tirkey and Vikram Pillay. Chief coach Rajinder Singh said the boys were getting into their rhythm and he will try out some younger players in the next match on Wednesday night. India is expected to effect a few changes in its starting line-up. — PTI

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