India-Belgium Tokyo Olympics: Belgium beat India 5-2 in men's hockey semi-finals
Tokyo: Indian Hockey team's dream of bringing home a gold medal ended on Tuesday morning as Belgium defeated the Men in Blue 5-2 in the men's hockey semi-final here.
India will now play for the bronze medal.
After conceding an early goal, India bounced back to take 2-1 lead.
Belgium, however, shined on the day and finished the scoreline in their favour, ending India's hope for a silver or gold.
Alexander Hendrickx hammered a hat-trick for Belgium.
Apart from him, John Dohmen and Loick Luypaert scored for Belgium.
#IND have lost the semi-final against #BEL by 2-5. 💔
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 3, 2021
They are still in the medal hunt as they will fight it out in the #bronze medal match. #Tokyo2020 | #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Hockey
Mandeep Singh and Harmanpreet Singh scored for India.
The other semi-final of the day will be played between Australia and Germany.
The loser of the match will face India for the bronze medal battle.
India had reached the last-four stage of the tournament by beating Great Britan.
Wins and losses are a part of life. Our Men’s Hockey Team at #Tokyo2020 gave their best and that is what counts. Wishing the Team the very best for the next match and their future endeavours. India is proud of our players.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 3, 2021
Indian PM Narendra Modi even cheered for the Indian squad and tweeted: "Wins and losses are a part of life. Our Men’s Hockey Team at #Tokyo2020 gave their best and that is what counts. Wishing the Team the very best for the next match and their future endeavours. India is proud of our players."
