Antwerp [Belgium], June 20 : India's outing in the ongoing FIH Hockey Pro League 2024-25 hasn't gone as per the script. Finishing in the top three and vying for a World Cup berth was on their minds when they left India for the European leg.
After six straight losses, the Indian men's hockey team will now take on their nemesis in modern hockey, Belgium. Belgium comes into the game tomorrow with a 6-3 win against Spain, after they lost 1-2 in the previous tie to the same team. They are currently placed third in the points table after the Netherlands and Australia, respectively. The Indian men's and women's teams will take on Belgium in a double-header on June 21 and 22.
Meanwhile, India has slipped to the 8th position in the current pool standings and with two matches to go, the team will look to end their campaign with a consolation win. Putting things into perspective, vice-skipper Hardik Singh said as quoted from Hockey India, "The results have not gone as planned, and it's not that we have played badly. I think it hurts more when you play well but not convert that into desired result. This is something we will introspect on, but for now we are focused on the last two matches here. Belgium and India have always shared a healthy rivalry in recent times and both teams bring out the best in each other. Our focus will be on finishing well, ensuring tighter defence and creating chances to score."
Meanwhile, the women's team will take on the hosts in Antwerp, hoping to turn the tide against world no.3 Belgium. Speaking about the upcoming game, women's captain Salima Tete expressed, "While we had two close matches against Australia and took Argentina to a penalty shootout in our last match, it was our 1-4 loss against Argentina in the previous match that gave us most insight into where we need to strengthen our game further and that is what we worked upon in our last match and take forward for our match against Belgium. Last year, during our previous encounter against the Belgium Team, we didn't give them any easy wins, and we're now taking our learnings from those matches and our recent encounters against Australia and Argentina to go all out against them again and hopefully win."
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