Tokyo 2020, Men’s Hockey semifinal highlights: Belgium beats India 5-2 to reach

Welcome to Sportstar’s coverage of Indian men’s hockey team’s Tokyo 2020 semifinal game against Belgium. This was
Dominic Richard taking you through the action as it unfurled at the Oi Hockey Stadium.

Thanks for tuning in!

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INDIANS IN ACTION |
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Meanwhile, India will play in the Bronze medal game. Tomorrow, the country’s women’s team will take on Argentina in a last-four fixture. Indian Hockey action for the day might be over. However, you can head to
Sportstar’s  other live blog to catch various Indian athletes in action at Tokyo 2020 on August 3, Tuesday.

MATCH REPORT |
India to face Germany in hockey bronze medal match after 5-2 semifinal loss to Belgium

So, Belgium will face either Australia or Germany in the men’s hockey final at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday. A hattrick from Alexander Hendrickx and goals from
Loick Luypaert, John-John Dohmen have guided the Belgians to their second straight gold-medal match. Can they do one better this time after claiming a silver at Rio 2016?

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

AND THE GAME IS OVER! BELGIUM BEATS INDIA 5-2 TO ADVANCE TO THE TOKYO OLYMPICS MEN’S HOCKEY FINAL!!!

60′ India has brought on an extra outfield player for the goalkeeper Sreejesh.
GOOOAAAALLLL!!!! BELGIUM SCORES ONE MORE! This was against the run of play and the Belgians have made maximum use of the lack of an opposition keeper. John-John Dohmen is the scorer.

56′ The Indian midfield is running out of ideas right now. India is attacking with numbers forward here, but constantly getting dispossessed.

53′ GOOOOAAALLLLL!!!! BELGIUM EXTENDS ITS LEAD!! The Belgians won another trio of penalty corners and ended up turning the last one into a penalty stroke after an umpire’s review. Hendrickx stepped up to convert it and complete his hattrick.

52′ India and Belgium have exactly made 18 attacking circle penetrations each so far. The latter has dominated this quarter so far. Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh makes a good save to keep his team in the game.

49′ GOOOOAAALLL!!!! BELGIUM 3 – 2 INDIA!!! Things went from bad to worse for the Indians in the last few minutes. Captain Manpreet Singh moved to the bench after receiving a green card. The Belgians won three consecutive penalty corners and Alexander Hendrickx scored off the final one.

47′ India completing quite a few quick passes here. Lalit Kumar Upadhyay eventually receives the ball up front. He tries to win a penalty corner, but fails.

THE FOURTH AND FINAL QUARTER COMMENCES!

We are fifteen minutes (plus a shootout if needed) away from finding out the first finalist of the men’s hockey event at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. Stay tuned!

THE THIRD QUARTER IS OVER!

45′ This 15-minute period has been the dullest of the match, considering the fact that both India and Belgium failed to create…