Hosts Belgium won a thrilling 4-0 victory over India in the World Hockey League (HWL) semifinal match in Brasschaat Municipal Park here on Friday to book a place in the final,.
For Belgium, Florent Van Aubel scored a brilliant hat-trick while Tanguy Cosyns made one to lead the team to the final.
The hosts had a great start to the game shoot a goal in the second minute of the first quarter. It was a smart move by the hosts. Jasjit Singh with a weak tackle made it easy for Van Aubel to score right at the start of the game.
After conceding a goal, India fought back well and Satbir Singh had the golden opportunity to level the score. I just needed to tap the ball into an open goal, but Vicente Vanasch Belgium stopper saving a stellar occurred.
Cosyns scored the second goal for the hosts eight minutes into the match. India Sreejesh cap stopped the drag flick but the rebound fell in front of Cosyns, who discovered at the time of the Indian defense and fired a Sreejesh past to help Belgium take a 2-0 lead.
In the second quarter, India went ahead as Satbir stole the ball at the edge of the circle and fired in the race, but Belgium plug Vanasch came back with a good stop.
The second half saw India putting up a better fight if it was not for Belgian goalkeeper Vanasch, which would have at least pulled one back.
At the beginning of the third quarter, pattern Sardar Singh ran and managed to dodge a couple of Belgian defenders but again, he was guilty of holding on to the ball a bit too long and his attack was blunted.
40 minutes, Jasjit put his body on the line of the attacker and gave away a penalty corner. Van Aubel found the net for the second time on 41 minutes to take Belgium 3-0.
In the final minutes of the third quarter, India earned a penalty corner but Manpreet Singh missed a chance to score.
The last quarter saw Belgium the Indian attack mode as shoddy defense helped Van Aubel find the net for a third time to score a hat-trick and take Belgium 4-0.
