India Men's Hockey Team Finishes Eighth at FIH World Cup 2026 After Shootout Loss to Belgium
The Indian men's hockey team concluded its FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 campaign with an eighth-place finish following a hard-fought 4-3 penalty shootout defeat against host nation Belgium in Wavre, Belgium. The 7th-8th place classification match ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw at the end of regulation time before Belgium secured victory in the decider.
India opened the scoring early in the sixth minute through a quick goal from Abhishek Nain, setup by Manpreet Singh. However, Belgium struck back aggressively, taking a 2-1 lead with quick goals from Roman Duvekot and Hugo Labouchere in the second quarter. Arthur De Sloover expanded Belgium's lead in the fourth quarter, but Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh staged a remarkable comeback, netting two penalty corners—including a dramatic equalizer with just 26 seconds remaining on the clock—to force the match into a shootout.
Despite Harmanpreet’s brilliant double, which took his tournament total to eight goals and made him joint top-scorer of the competition, India fell short in the high-pressure penalty shootout. Belgium converted four of their attempts compared to India's three, securing seventh place. The match also marked significant individual milestones, as Indian defender Amit Rohidas earned his 250th international cap and midfielder Rajinder Singh reached his 50th cap.
