Hockey World Cup 2018: Spirited India play out 2-2 draw against Belgium
Bhubaneswar, Dec 2: Hosts India produced a spirited effort to eke out a 2-2 draw against Olympic silver medallists Belgium in an evenly-contested Pool C match of the men's hockey World Cup here on Sunday.
Pegged back by Alexander Hendricks' goal in the eighth minute, India made a valiant comeback after the change of ends, scoring two goals in the third and fourth quarter through Harmanpreet Singh (39th) and Simranjeet Singh (47th) to take the lead.
But the hosts defence faltered in the final minutes and conceded a late goal when Simon Gougnard scored in the 56th minute to draw level.
The draw, however, enabled world no. 5 India to take the top spot in Pool C ahead of Belgium on goal difference. Both teams have a win and a draw from two outings.
India had earlier blanked South Africa 5-0 in their opener, while world no. 3 Belgium pulled off a close 2-1 win over Canada.
India will play Canada in their last pool match on December 8, while Belgium will be up against South Africa on the same day.
Contrary to their last match, the Indians completely looked out of sorts in the opening two quarters against Belgium.
The hosts lacked co-ordination in the midfield and that gave them hardly any scoring opportunities.
The Indians were slow to get off the blocks as the Red Lions dominated the proceedings in the first two quarters, threatening the hosts defence on a number of occasions.
Belgium got their first scoring opportunity in the second minute in the form of back-to-back penalty corners but failed to get past the Indian defence.
Another penalty corner in the eighth minute resulted in Belgium's first goal through Hendricks, who sounded the board with a ground flick in between the legs of Indian custodian P R Sreejesh.
Seconds from the first quarter, India had their first real scoring chance when Mandeep deflected wide a Dilpreet Singh layover from Birendra Lakra's inch-perfect pass from the midfield.
Five minutes into the second quarter, Dilpreet Singh shot wide from top right after being fed by skipper Manpreet Singh.
Two minutes from half time, Tom Boon came tantalisingly close to doubling Belgium's lead when his neat deflection struck the post and went out.
But after the change of ends, the Indians changed gears and looked a completely different side.
The home team looked more organised and their mid-field finally started to create opportunities.
Three minutes into the third quarter, Dilpreet was denied by Belgium goalkeeper Vincent Van Asch from close range after being fed by Simranjeet.
Two minutes later India earned their first penalty corner and it took a gem of save from Vanasch to keep Harmanpreet Singh's powerful high flick out of the target.
Minutes later, Belgium had a chance but an alert Sreejesh denied Cedric Charlier.
India's relentless pressure earned them back-to-back penalty corners in the 39th minute, the second of which resulted in a penalty stroke which was ably converted by Harmanpreet to drew parity for the hosts.
Two minutes into the fourth and final quarter, Simranjeet scored his third goal of the tournament by tapping in from close range after being set up by Kothajit Singh's fine stick work from the left flank to hand India the lead.
Thereafter, the game witnessed end-to-end attacking stuff with both the teams pressing hard in search of the decisive goal.
Belgium withdrew their goal keeper for an extra player with little less than five minutes from the hooter and their move struck gold when Gougnard scored with a slapshot in between Sreejesh's legs late into the game.
The Indians made a few impressive moves in the remaining few minutes but Belgium defended stoutly despite the absence of their goalkeeper to share the spoils.
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Gulmarg terror attack: Two soldiers succumb to injuries, toll rises to four
Srinagar (PTI): Two soldiers who were critically wounded in Thursday's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Gulmarg succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll in the ambush to four.
Two Army porters died on Thursday while another porter and a soldier were injured.
Terrorists attacked a vehicle of the force six kilometres from tourist hotspot Gulmarg in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, officials said on Thursday.
They had said the terrorists opened fire on the Army vehicle in the Bota Pathri area in the evening when it was headed for the Nagin post in the Afrawat range.
Confirming the deaths of the two porters, the officials had said the condition of two of the injured soldiers was critical.
They had said the soldiers in the vehicle opened retaliatory fire when they came under attack.
The area is completely dominated by the Army and there were reports recently that a terrorist group had infiltrated during early summer and taken shelter in the higher reaches of the Afrawat range, they said.
The Bota Pathri area was recently opened to tourists.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the recent spate of attacks in the Valley was a matter of serious concern.
"Very unfortunate news about the attack on the Army vehicles in the Bota Pathri area of north Kashmir, which has resulted in some casualties and injuries. This recent spate of attacks in Kashmir is a matter of serious concern," he said in a post on X.
"I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and send my condolences to the loved ones of the people who lost their lives. I also pray that the injured make a complete and swift recovery," he added.
Former chief minister and People's Democratic Party supremo Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack.
The BJP's Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina, meanwhile, condemned the attack and blamed Pakistan for trying to destabilise peace and tranquillity in the Union Territory.
The attack came amid a spike in terror incidents in the Valley.
In another deadly attack on Sunday, six non-local labourers and a local doctor were killed when terrorists fired indiscriminately upon them at the Z-Morh tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of central Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
Before that, a labourer from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in Shopian district on October 18.
Earlier on Thursday, terrorists shot at and injured a labourer from Uttar Pradesh in the Tral area of Pulwama district.
