~ Nelson Onana (23′), Thomas Crols (53′) and Arno Van Dessel (57′) scored the goals for Belgium ~
Rourkela, February 11, 2026: Belgium defeated India 3-1 in the Rourkela leg of the FIH Men’s Pro League 2025-26 at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium on Wednesday. Nelson Onana (23′), Thomas Crols (53′) and Arno Van Dessel (57′) scored the goals for Belgium, while Shilanand Lakra (29′) was the scorer for India.
It was an extremely competitive first quarter, with both teams making hardly any mistakes at the back. Belgium earned an early penalty corner in the 4th minute, but Alexander Hendrickx’s drag flick was heroically stopped by India’s first rusher Vivek Sagar Prasad. Four minutes later, India also got its first penalty corner, but the home team could not capitalize on this opportunity. While Belgium had more possession, India did well to hold their ground and launch quick counter-attacks in search of goal scoring opportunities. In the 14th minute, Belgium won another penalty corner, but this time Tom Boon’s powerful effort went narrowly wide of the goal as the scores remained level.
The game took off in the second quarter. Belgium were awarded a penalty corner in the 21st minute but Indian goalkeeper Pawan made a brilliant acrobatic save to deny Alexander Hendrickx a goal. Moments later, Belgian Thomas Crols was through on goal, but Pawan stepped out and made another crucial save to protect his goal. Belgium found the opening goal in the 23rd minute as they did well to make an interception to win possession in a dangerous position. Thomas Crols passed the ball to Nelson Onana (23′) who found the net with a simple finish. India stepped up their attack and made some crucial circle notes in the next few minutes.
In the 29th minute, the hosts made another bright attack and won a penalty corner. Amit Rohidas’ goal was initially stopped by the first rusher, but Shilanand Lakra did well to quickly pounce on the ball and slot it into the net to score the equalizer for India.
Belgium continued to dictate possession in the third quarter, but India were resilient in their defense and maintained their composure at the back. In the 38th minute, Belgium won another penalty corner, but Alexander Hendrickx was again denied, this time by Jarmnapreet Singh, who showed great skill by making a goal-line save to keep the scores level.
In the 53rd minute, India broke out into another strong counter-attack as Nilakanta Sharma played a brilliant pass to Karthi Selvam, but the striker was unable to get a shot on target in time and was stopped by the Belgian backline. Seconds later, at the other end of the pitch, Belgium launched an attack from the left flank when Lucas Balthazar played the perfect pass into the circle from the baseline to Thomas Crols (53′), who smashed the ball into the bottom right corner to take the lead for the visitors. In the 57th minute, Thomas Crols was once again in the spotlight as he set up the ball for Arno Van Dessel (57′) inside the circle, who did well to sneak the ball into the net and seal the win for Belgium.
All India matches of FIH Men’s Pro League 2025-26 Rourkela match will be telecast on Star Sports Khel and JioHotstar while other matches will be streamed live on Jio Hotstar.