University of Waikato 4-nation hockey tournament:India lose to Belgium in penalty shoot out
A gruelling fourth and last quarter that saw four goals being scored was not enough to decide the winner of the second leg of the University of Waikato 4-nation Hockey Tournament at Hamilton on Sunday. Since the winners of the first leg Belgium and runners-up India could not resolve the 4-4 deadlock, penalty shoot out rule was applied for the second time on the last day today. And Belgium was the winner again, this time with a clear 3-0 verdict in the shootout. Earlier Japan had beaten the hosts New Zealand 4-1 in the penalty shootout after the teams played a 1-1 draw for the bronze medal.
India-Belgium encounter was a titanic affair as both teams not only matched each other in skills, strategy and stamina, India were unable to hold on to leads it had during the run of the play.
It was Ramandeep Singh who gave India lead in the 29th minute. This lead was neutralised only in the third quarter when Tammy Cayms scored in the 41st minute.
A minute later India again took the lead with a goal from Nilkanta Sharma. Belgians in a massive counter attack again neutralised the leas in the 43rd minute.
Undeterred by the equalise Indian forwards continued to raid their opponents goal frequently. Their efforts bore fruit in the 49t minute when Mandeep scored a brilliant goal.. However, the lead was short-lived as A. Kausters restored parity for the Belgians.
When India scored its fourth goal in the 53rd minute it looked as if it would hold on to it to win the gold. However, Red Sticks had different ideas. Felix Demayer did not take long to score again to bring the teams at par 4-4 forcing the organisers to apply penalty shootout to decide the winner. The luck favoured Belgium and it won its second successive gold in the double leg tournament. India ended with silver medals in both the editions.
