Rio Olympics Men`s Hockey: India defeated 3-1 by Belgium, knocked out of Rio Olympics

New Delhi: Eyeing a place in semi-finals, both India and Belgium started-off lively, penetrating each other's circles on multiple occasions but could not test the goalkeeper.

Belgium pressed hard for a goal later in the first quarter but India maintained their defensive structure to prevent any real scoring opportunity.

With just 2 minutes to go, Belgium almost scored the opening goal of the match but Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh had other ideas.

At the fag end of first quarter, India scored against the run of play, Akashdeep Singh bagging his second goal of the tournament. The first quarter ended 1-0 in favour of the Indian team.

Akashdeep almost scored his second goal with 7 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter, a period full of plenty of attacking moves from both teams.

Sreejesh was India's saviour once again at the end of second quarter, keeping the score 1-0. But Belgium maintained pressure going and scored from a penalty corner with seconds left in the second quarter, Sebastian Dockier the scorer.

A lively third quarter saw Sreejesh engaged heavily, but India paid price being one-man down later in the game, conceding second goal again at the end of quarter, Sebastian Dockier the scorer.

Tom Boon scored a Belgium's third in 4th quarter with 10 mins left in the match.

The result means that India are out of the Rio Olympics at quarter-finals stage, with Belgium progressing to semi-finals.