India beat Belgium 5-4 in Four Nation hockey

Bengaluru, January 25: India edged out Belgium 5-4 in the Four Nations Invitational Tournament being held in Hamilton, New Zealand, on Thursday (January 25).

India opened the scoring in the fourth minute Rupinder Pal Singh and that set the tone for the rest of the match.

John-John Dohmen found the equaliser in the 17th minute and both the teams went in for a scramble for the lead thereafter.

Felix Denayer gave Belgium the 2-1 lead in the 37th minute but the lead lasted only five minutes. Rupinder Pal struck his second goal of the match to level the proceedings.

The next four minutes saw two goals being scored - Belgium in the 45th through Alexander Hendrickx and India through Harmanpreet Singh in the 46th.

Lalit Upadhyay gave India lead again in the 53rd minute but only for Tom Boon to make it 4-4 in the 56th minute.

In the past, India had lost several of such close encounters but this time the Men in Blue held their nerves. Dilpreet Singh made the decisive strike in the 59th minute to gave India a win.