India meet Britain in last-eight encounter

Raipur, Dec 2, 2015, DHNS:

Great Britain and Belgium played out an entertaining 3-3 draw in what was the final game in the final group stages of the Hockey World League Final here on Tuesday.

The draw saw Great Britain occupy the top spot in Pool B with six points, while an inferior goal difference means Australia occupies the second spot with Belgium and Canada (three points) taking the third and the fourth spots (zero points) respectively.

In the quarterfinals which begin from Wednesday, defending champions Netherlands take on Canada, while Australia will face Germany in the second tie of the day.

On Thursday, India will begin the show with a clash against Great Britain as Argentina and Belgium will lock horns in the last quarters tie.

Britain, who beat world champions Australia in their previous game, got off to a sublime start as Phil Roper gave them the lead in the seventh minute. But minutes later, Belgium drew parity through a Thomas Briels strike in the 13th minute.

This pattern continued throughout the game. Though goals from Alastair Brogdon (28th minute) and Alan Forsyth (40th minute) had put the Dan Fox-led side ahead, they couldn’t defend the lead as Belgium struck back through goals from Tanguy Cosyns and Tom Boon in the 38th and the 42nd minutes respectively.

Earlier in the day, a dominant Australian team recorded a thumping 6-0 win over Canada here at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel stadium.

Results: Pool A: Great Britain: 3 (Phil Roper 7th, Alastair Brogdon 28th, Alan Forsyth 40th) drew with Belgium: 3 (Thomas Briels 13th, Tanguy Cosyns 38th, Tom Boon 42nd); Australia: 6 (Daniel Baele 4th, 60th, Matthew Dawson 15th, Dylan Wotherspoon 13th, Kieran Govers 57th, Jeremy Hayward 11th) bt Canda: 0.

Quarterfinals: On Wednesday: Netherlands vs Canada (6:30 pm); Australia vs Germany (8:30 pm).

On Thursday: India vs Great Britain (6:30 pm); Belgium vs Argentina (8:30 pm).