International

India lost again, finishes last in its pool

London : Indian hockey team touches a new low on Tuesday as they lost it’s fifth match against Belgium 3-0 at the Riverbank Arena.

The Belgians finished third in Pool B behind semifinalists the Netherlands and Germany, securing a playoff for fifth-sixth and their highest placing in the Olympics since the 1928 Amsterdam Games, where they were fourth.

India, the faded eight-time gold medallist, was already assured of its worst Olympic result before its fifth straight pool loss. India will face South Africa to avoid 12th and last place.

India’s bottom finish in Pool B was a foregone conclusion irrespective of the result of this match as all other teams has earned four or more points in the previous games, but this loss was the first time India had failed to gain even one point.

Belgium scored through Jerome Dekeyser (15th minute), Gautier Boccard (47th) and Tom Boon (70th) to shatter India’s hopes of salvaging something from the last game.

South Africa, who today lost 3-6 to Argentina, finished their five matches in Pool A with one point, leaving India as the only team not to have gained a single point in the men’s hockey competition.

India’s strikers continued to play an erratic game and muffed chances galore against Belgium, who had beaten India in their last encounter in the final of the Champions Challenge in Johannesburg last year.

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