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India suffer first defeat in Champions Trophy
LONDON: Indian captain PR Sreejesh’s lacklustre show under the bar saw the team succumb to a 1-2 defeat by Belgium in the 36th Hero Champions Trophy at the Lee Valley
LONDON: Indian captain PR Sreejesh’s lacklustre show under the bar saw the team succumb to a 1-2 defeat by Belgium in the 36th Hero Champions Trophy at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre here on Monday.
Sreejesh would be disappointed to concede two goals through his pads against the dominant Belgians, resulting in India’s first loss in three outings of the ongoing Champions Trophy.
Alexander Hendrickx converted a penalty corner in the 25th minute and India equalised through Devender Walmiki five minutes later, but Jerome Truyens won the day for the Belgians through his field goal in the 44th.
This was the first win for Belgium in three outings. They join India and hosts Great Britain on four points each from three matches. Britain earlier beat South Korea 4-1 for their first win in the tournament, while World champions Australia consolidated their position atop the standings with a 4-3 victory over Germany.
RELAY TEAM JUMPS TO 13TH IN RANKINGS
NEW DELHI: National women’s 4x400m relay team climbed three positions in the rankings list after clocking 3:30.16 during Challenge Cup athletics meet at Erzurum, Turkey. With an average time of 3:29.62 seconds, India is placed 13. Last year, India’s best performance was 3:29.08 secs, clocked at Beijing’s world meet.
The men’s 4x400m relay team set a national record of 3:02.17 secs at the same venue. The previous record was 3:02.62 set during Bangkok Asian Games in 1998. But the team ranking is 20.
Top 16 nations will get a chance to compete in the Rio. The final ranking list will be announced July 12 by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
