Wavre (Belgium): The Indian men’s hockey team went down 3-4 in a shoot-out to co-hosts Belgium after a thrilling draw in regulation time to finish their FIH World Cup campaign in eighth place here on Friday.
Shilanand Lakra, Dilpreet Singh and Abhishek found the net in the penalty shootout, but it was not enough as Belgium prevailed after the two sides failed to break the 3-3 deadlock in regulation time.
Abhishek had opened the scoring for India in regulation time before Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace, while Roman Duvekot, Hugo Labouchere and Nicolas de Kerpel were on target for Belgium.
India started brightly, with Abhishek giving them the lead inside the first six minutes. However, Belgium struck twice within the space of a minute to turn the match around and take the lead.
Harmanpreet restored parity in the 31st minute, but de Kerpel put Belgium ahead again early in the fourth quarter.
India, however, refused to give up as Harmanpreet found the net in the dying seconds to make it 3-3 and force the match into a shoot-out.
Belgium eventually held their nerve in the shoot-out to condemn India to an eighth-place finish.
