India men play world champion Belgium in Tokyo Olympics hockey semi-finals, watch live
Belgium have conceded the least number of goals at the Tokyo Olympics so far and have scored a whopping 29 goals in six matches. Watch India vs Belgium live!
The Indian men’s hockey team will be up against world champions Belgium in the Tokyo Olympics semi-finals on Tuesday.
It’s the first time that India will play the hockey semi-finals at the Olympics in 49 years. They did so last time at Munich 1972 when they faced Pakistan and lost 2-0.
India won their last Olympic medal, a gold, at Moscow 1980. But with just six teams competing at the Moscow Games, there were no semi-finals in the edition and the top two teams after the round-robin stage eventually played the gold medal match.
At Tokyo, the Manpreet Singh-led side has been in tremendous form. Though India suffered a 7-1 loss to Australia earlier in the group stage, the Indian team bounced back to make it to the quarter-finals with three wins in a row.
In their 3-1 quarter-final win over Great Britain, India eased into a 2-0 lead by half-time and sealed the match with a late goal by Hardik Singh.
Next at the Oi Hockey Stadium, the Indian hockey team will face Belgium, who have looked in menacing form at Tokyo 2020.
Drag-flicker Alexander Hendrickx has led Belgium’s charge with 11 goals so far.
Belgium have scored a whopping 29 goals in six matches, including nine each against South Africa and Canada in the group stage. Their defence too has been brilliant with the Red Lions conceding just 10 goals, the least in the competition so far.
In contrast, India have scored 18 goals and conceded 14 in their six matches.
Meanwhile, Belgium’s come-from-behind 3-1 win over Spain in the quarters also showcased their ability to bounce back under pressure.
Tuesday will also see Australia facing the four-time Olympic gold medallist Germany in the other semi-final at Tokyo 2020.
While the Germans dispatched title holders Argentina 3-1 in their quarter-final clash, Australia came through after beating the Netherlands 3-0 on penalty shoot-out.
India vs Belgium hockey squads
India: Manpreet Singh (captain), PR Sreejesh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Surender Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Sumit, Gurjant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Varun Kumar, Mandeep Singh and Simranjeet Singh.
Belgium: Felix Denayer (captain), Vincent Vanasch, Arthur Van Doren, John-john Dohmen, Florent Van Aubel, Sebastien Dockier, Cedric Charlier, Gauthier Boccard, Nicolas De Kerpel, Alexander Hendrickx, Simon Gougnard, Arthur De Sloover, Antoine Kina, Loick Luypaert, Victor Wegnez, Tom Boon
Tokyo Olympics men’s hockey semi-finals schedule and live India start times
All times are in India standard time (IST)
Tuesday, August 3
India vs Belgium - 7:00 AM IST
Australia vs Germany - 5:15 PM IST
Where to watch the India vs Belgium Tokyo Olympics hockey semi-finals live in India?
The India vs Belgium semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics will be telecast live on the Sony TEN 2, Sony TEN 2 HD, Sony SIX and Sony SIX HD TV channels in India.
Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 3 HD, Sony TEN 4 and Sony TEN 4 HD will broadcast Tokyo 2020 in regional languages. National broadcasters Doordarshan (DD Sports and DD National) will also simulcast the event.
Live streaming of the Tokyo Olympics hockey matches will be available on Sony LIV.