By Anand Philar, IANS
Chennai : Down by three goals, Belgium fought back to force a 4-4 draw with fancied India in the first hockey Test at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium here Friday night.
The Belgians, who had upset world champions Germany 4-3 in the European championship last year to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, were no match for the skilful Indians but amply compensated for the shortfall with their pace and displayed plenty of pluck to keep fighting till the very end.
India, whose deep defence was rather twitchy under pressure, scored through Ramachandra Raghunath (25th, 44th), Tushar Khandekar (16th) and Shivender Singh (20th) while Jerome Dekeyser (42nd, 64th), Thomas Biels (48th), John-John Dohmen (59th) replied for Belgium.
The second Test will be played at the same venue on Sunday.
Belgium gave signs of their ability early in the first half when they came up with a few dangerous runs, using the long ball to good effect. The Indian defence appeared rather lethargic and a step slower as the Belgian forwards showed admirable pace.
The Indian goal thus came under threat twice in the first nine minutes and had the Belgian forwards shown more skill in one-on-one situation, they could well have converted the opportunities.
In the very second minute Dekeyser broke through on the right but cracked a shot straight to goalkeeper Baljit Singh. A little later, Briels outpaced his marker, Prabhodh Tirkey chasing a long ball. Baljit advanced to clear, but the ball slid off his pads. Fortunately for India, Prabhodh was on hand to clear.
Having survived these anxious moments, the Indians then took charge with the Belgian midfield committing errors in pressure situations and virtually gifting away the ball.
Shivender, Ignace Tirkey and Roshan Minz came close to scoring during this period of Indian ascendancy, but were way off target. Minz came the closest with a blinder from the right to second post that goalkeeper Cedric de Greve deflected with an acrobatic dive to his right.
With India persisting and stepping up the pace, the Belgian goal fell thrice in a 12-minute spell as the home team took command of the proceedings.
Khandekar opened the scoring with a scorcher of a reverse hit from a Minz pass. The Belgian defenders were wrong-footed by the clever pass from Minz and Khandkar was left free to let fly to the net.
Then came a lightning counter-attack from the Indians as Rajpal Singh trapped an aerial ball in the midfield and passed to Shivender whose stunning acceleration left the Belgian defenders gasping in his wake. On entering the circle from the right, he found the boards with de Greve making a poor attempt to stop.
India consolidated their lead when Raghunath converted the team’s first penalty corner with a powerful drag-flick, low to the right of the goalkeeper. Nearing half-time, India almost scored their fourth, but Ignace’s deflection off Dilip Tirkey’s long hit skipped the crosspiece.
On resumption, Belgium put together a couple of fine moves and struck in the 42nd minute when Dekeyser slammed a reverse hit to the net following a pass from Loic Vandeweghe. Full-back William Xalxo was rather slow to cover Dekeyser who had the time to turn and score.
India hit back within two minutes when Raghunath converted the third penalty corner with a strong drag-flick high and to the left of the goalkeeper.
Belgium were far from finished and scored in the 49th through Biels with the Indian defence yet again appearing slack due to poor marking and covering.
Heartened by the success, Belgium pressed hard with Biels passing to Charles Vandeweghe who quickly scrambled the ball in. However, umpire Amarjit Singh (Malaysia) awarded a penalty corner citing a foul on Biels. Off the short corner, Dekeyser found the net with a powerful drag-flick for the equaliser.