India's test against Belgium, as both men & women team take on hosts

Antwerp, June 20 (UNI) India's outing in the ongoing FIH Hockey Pro League 2024-25 hasn't
gone as per the script.
Finishing in top 3 and vying for a World Cup berth was on their minds when they left India for the European leg.
After six straight loses, the Indian Men's Hockey Team will now take on their nemesis in modern hockey Belgium, who come into the game tomorrow with 6-3 win against Spain, after they lost
1-2 in the previous tie to the same team.
They are currently placed third in the points table after the Netherlands and Australia respectively.
Meanwhile, India have slipped to the 8th position in the current pool standings and with two matches to go, the team will look to end their campaign with consolation win.
Putting things into perspective, Vice Skipper Hardik Singh said, "The results have not gone as planned and it's not that we have played badly. I think it hurts more when you play well but not convert that into desired result. This is something we will introspect on, but for now we are
focused on the last two matches here. Belgium and India have always shared a healthy rivalry
in recent times and both teams bring out the best in each other."
"Our focus will be on finishing well, ensuring tighter defence and creating chances to score," he added.
Meanwhile, the women's team will take on the hosts in Antwerp hoping to turn the tide against world no.3 Belgium.
Speaking about the upcoming game, Women's Captain Salima Tete expressed, "While we had two close matches against Australia and took Argentina to a penalty shootout in our last match, it was our 1-4 loss against Argentina in the previous match that gave us most insight into where we need to strengthen our game further and that is what we worked upon in our last match and take forward for our match against Belgium."
"Last year, during our previous encounter against the Belgium Team, we didn't give them any easy wins, and we're now taking our learnings from those matches and our recent encounters against Australia and Argentina to go all out against them again and hopefully win," she said.
The Indian Men's and Women's Team will take on Belgium in a double-header on June 21
and 22.
All the FIH Pro League 2024-25 (Men) matches will be streamed live on Jio Hotstar and
broadcast on Star Sports Select.
UNI BM

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