FIH Hockey Pro League: Belgium Men and Women's team thrash India in the second leg

Within the regulation time, De Kerpel Nicolas in the 32nd minute and Hendrickx Alexander in the 48th and 58th minute were the goal scorers for Belgium. In contrast, Abhishek in the 24th minute and Mandeep Singh in the 59th minute scored for India.

Belgium had a balanced start as both the squads put forth a brilliant display of intense competition and moments of individual brilliance. Both squads were at each other's throats from start to finish which made the match extremely fascinating.

India scored the first goal of the match as the players worked like cogs in a machine to smoothly pass the ball from Varun to Harman to Vivek to Lalit to Sukhit, who sent the ball to Abhishek with a well-placed pass, allowing him to put India in the lead. The first half ended with a 1-0 lead for India.

Belgium burst into action at the beginning of the first half as Nicholas de Kerpel slotted the ball into the net through a narrow gap past the Indian defence line after receiving a pass from Arthur de Sloover to level the score. Hendrickx Alexander scored just three minutes into the final quarter with a precise strike from a penalty corner to give Belgium the lead. He further widened the lead for the home side with a penalty corner flick just inches past the Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh to make it 3-1.

India still had hopes to equalize and launched an attack in the match's final minute. Mandeep Singh broke through the Belgian defensive live and fired the ball into the goal with just seconds left to play. Vivek Prasad almost sent the intense game into a shootout. However, as the final whistle rang, his shot went over the Belgian net.

In a post-match interview, Arthur de Sloover said, "The whole defence did well today. India is one of the best countries in the world. We did an excellent job of beating them. Yesterday and today, it was the details that mattered. We did well up front and kept it tight at the back. I tried to replace Arthur van Doren as best as I could.”

Owing to the victory, Belgium joined the Netherlands at the top of the FIH Pro League table with 31 points, with the Dutch side having two extra games left to play.

Belgium women's hockey team thrash India 5-0

In the women's event, Belgium won against India 5-0 in the second leg of the FIH Pro League match at Sportcentrum Wilrijkse Plein in Antwerp on June 12.

Barbara Nelen in the 1st minute, Charlotte Englebert in the 3rd minute, Raye Abi in the 18th minute, Vanden Borre Stephanie in the 22nd minute, and Ballenghien Ambre in the 35th minute were the goal scorers for Belgium. In contrast, none of the players from the Indian side was able to score.

Belgium had a great start to the match as Barbara Nelen slotted the ball into the net after receiving a pass from Abi Raye just one minute into the game. 

Charlotte Englebert doubled the lead with a brilliant reverse shot past the Indian goalkeeper Savita just two minutes later. The Belgian squad dominated India and continued their goal-scoring spree in the second quarter. 

Abi Raye made it 3-0 with a shot on a rebound, while Stephanie Vanden Borre added another with a powerful drag-flick four minutes later. The first half ended with a 4-0 lead for the home side.

Indian attackers failed to trouble the Belgian defence in the second half. In the 35th minute, Ambre Ballenghien fired the ball into the net from the circle despite being in the middle of a fall.

In a post-match interview, Player of the Match Charlotte Engelbert said, "We had an excellent start. We knew we had to make our chances count, and we did. Yesterday I made a big defensive error, but today we kept the 'nil', which was good too.