Bengaluru, January 18: After a promising start to their Four Nations Invitational Hockey Tournament campaign in New Zealand, India suffered a 0-2 loss at the hands of Belgium in the second match at the Blake Park in Tauranga on Thursday (January 18).

Sebastien Dockier (8th minute) and Victor Wegnez (34th minute) scored for the winners.

FT! A solid performance from @BELRedLions sees India take a tough loss in the Four Nations Invitational Tournament in NZ on 18th January 2018.
#IndiaKaGame #INDvBEL #NZ4Nations pic.twitter.com/pjwzT9fy2g

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 18, 2018

It was a reversal of fortunes for both the teams. While India had routed Japan 6-0 in their opening match, which was watched among others by the Under-19 team, which is competing in the ongoing Cricket World Cup, Belgium had gone down 4-5 to New Zealand.

India off to a winning start

Both teams played out an exciting first quarter, though it was Belgium who constantly tested Indian defence. Their first attempt came in the fourth minute when Belgian forward swiftly smashed a reverse hit to the post but India's goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who is making a comeback from injury, made a good save.

Four minutes later, India had a great chance to equalise when forward Ramandeep Singh earned the team the first penalty corner of the match, but the chance went begging, as the ball could not be stopped at the top of the D.

A compact Belgian defence slowed down India's attack in the second quarter. But relentless Indian forwards worked in packs as they kept pressing for the equaliser.

Ramandeep made another foray into the Belgium circle, but his nudge was high up, as Belgium went into the lemon break with the 1-0 lead.

After the chane of ends, Belgium uppsed the ante doubled their lead in the 34th minute largely due to an error by Indian defenders which Wegnez capitalized on.

India earned four penalty corners in all, but could not convert any of them. After a day of rest, India will take on New Zealand on Friday while Belgium will lock horns with Japan.

The first leg of the double-leg Four Nations Invitational Tournament concludes in Tauranga on January 21. The second leg will commence from January 24 in Hamilton.

(Source: Hockey India)

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RESULT
Belgium (Sebastien Dockier, 8th; Victor Wegnez, 34th) bt India 2-0

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NEXT FIXTURE

India vs New Zealand, January 20 (4.45pm IST)

Live streaming on: www.facebook.com/nzblacksticks