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Bhubaneswar, December 02: The much-awaited Pool C match between India and Belgium of the on-going Hockey World Cup ended in a 2-2 draw at Kalinga stadium here today.
India recovered from a slow start to produce a superb second half performance to hold title contenders Belgium to draw.
Alexander Hendrickx drew first blood for Belgium when he fired a penalty corner through the legs of Indian goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh in the eighth minute.
Harmanpreet Singh scored the equaliser for India off a penalty stroke in the 39th minute before Simranjeet Singh put them in the lead in the 47th.
But Florent van Aubel earned a point for the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallists when he scored Belgium’s second goal in the 56th minute.
Earlier, India had thrashed South Africa by 5-0 goals in the opening game of their campaign on November 28 whereas Belgium defeated Canada by 2-1 goals.
(With IANS inputs)
Prasanta Patnaik