Paris Olympics 2024: Belgium end at the top in 'battle of bests' as India fail to capitalize on early lead

Paris: Finally, there was a clash between two unbeaten teams, India and Belgium in the men’s hockey competition in the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024. Everyone was eyeing this thrilling encounter to see who would blink first in this ‘battle of bests’ and eventually, it happened to be Harmanpreet Singh’s India.

With an amazing comeback from 0-1 after the second quarter to 2-1 at the end of the final whistle, Belgium proved and justified themselves being the gold medalist in the Tokyo 2020. In an unfortunate line of events, the men in blue failed to capitalise on the early lead they got in the 18th minute of the match when Abhishek brilliantly executed a field goal. It was also the first-ever field goal for India in the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024.

India managed to maintain their lead of 1-0 till the end of the second quarter which slightly favoured India. The 18th-minute goal for India was followed by a missed penalty corner and a green card to Belgian forward Tom Boon around the end of the second quarter.

Belgium showed why they are ‘defending champions’

But the tables were completely turned from India’s control to the favour of the Belgian camp in the third quarter. In the third minute of the third quarter and overall 33rd minute of the match, young forward Thibeau Stockbroexx came up with an amazing equalizer with a brilliant field goal. The scores were levelled, leaving the Indian think tank forehead-wrinkled.

Except for a green card to Alexader Hendrickx in the 41st minute, Thibeau’s 33rd-minute goal was the beginning of Belgium’s dominance in the third quarter of the game. The reigning champions capitalized on this dominance and converted a penalty corner into a success in the 44th minute of the game. Veteran midfielder John-John Domen took his side into the lead with an amazing goal dodging the Indian defence led by the goalkeeping veteran PR Sreejesh.

Furthermore, Belgium maintained the 2-1 lead till the end of the fourth quarter and kept India away from a goal till the last whistle of the game. The scoreline ended 2-1 in the favour of Belgium and the holders continued their unbeaten run in the current campaign in Paris 2024.  

With this defeat against Belgium, India have now slipped to the third spot in the Pool B points table of the men’s hockey competition. Australia moved to the second spot with their sensational win by 5-0 in another Pool B match against New Zealand,  At the time of filling this, India, Belgium, and Australia from Pool B have qualified for the Quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics 2024.