Hockey: Goalkeepers Pawan, Mohith shine but India beaten by Belgium 1-0 in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup final

Belgium, with some of their stalwarts in the squad, dominated the attacking stats while India, without a few of their big-name players like Harmanpreet Singh and Manpreet Singh, simply didn’t create enough going forward.

It was the European powerhouses who were dictating play in the early stages. India won their first penalty corner in the 10th minute when Sukhjeet Singh cleverly stepped away from a bobbling ball that ended up landing on a defender’s foot. But Jugraj Singh’s effort went wide of the right post. Sanjay’s side would win only two more penalty corners on the night, and on both occasions, the injection wasn’t even trapped.

With just over 90 seconds left in the first quarter, Tom Boon created a sensational chance for himself as he controlled an aerial down the right, beat a defender and unleashed a shot from close range, but Mohith closed it down sharply.

Pawan took his place between the posts for the second quarter and was called into action multiple times as Belgium turned on the heat on the Indian defence. India were camped deep into their own territory at this stage.
The stats at the interval told a story as Belgium had nine attempts, compared to India’s two (none on target), while circle penetrations stood at 15 to 4.

Immediately at the start of the second half, Karthi Selvam finally made Vincent Vanasch work, his shot from the edge of the circle kept out by Belgium’s legendary shot-stopper. It seemed like India came out with better attacking purpose but the defensive resolve would soon be breached.

Nicolas de Kerpel drove along the right byline, leaving a lunging Sanjay behind him, and played an inch-perfect pass to the far post, where Belgium had an overload. Thibeau Stockbroekx made no mistake from close range.
India had Mohith to thank again for keeping it 0-1 after an attacking PC led to a blistering counterattack from Belgium, which was thwarted by the goalkeeper. In the final quarter, India went into full-blown attack mode and left plenty of space for Belgium to exploit on the counterattack.

Pawan came up with a stunning save low down to his right from a bullet of a drag-flick by Boon. A few minutes later, he saved twice from back-to-back PCs to keep Alexander Hendrickx at bay,

At this point, it was only India’s goalkeeping that was keeping this a contest and when Pawan walked off the pitch with just under three minutes to go, it gave India a slim chance of finding an equaliser with 11 outfield players. But it never came to pass.