Khandekar 'trick gives India victory

Riding on a hat-trick by man-of-the match Tushar Khandekar and goalkeeper Bharat Chetri's superb performance under the bar, hosts India scored an emphatic 4-0 win over Belgiam in their second of the five Test hockey series at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Indians, who drew the first match 4-4 on Friday, showed excellent abilities in the goal scoring initiatives and controlled the game, holding on to ball possession with near perfect trappings.

This should augur well in their planning to earn a berth for the Beijing Olympics from the Qualifier in Chile to be played from Mar 1 to 9. The Begians have already qualified for the Olympics.

India led 1-0 at half-time.

Indian Chief Coach Joaquim Carvalho, who tried out each of the players in the 70-minutes of play to assess their strengths and weaknesses, was happy with the outcome.

"I am happy there were fewer mistakes both in our attack and defence today as compared to the first match," said Carvalho. "Chetri not only stood out well in saving more than about six shots at the goal but he did the job with total confidence."

In the first half, India had the major share of exchanges and exhibited their skills in every aspect of the game.

Exhibiting total hockey and being always on the attack, the hosts never found wanting excepting a few instances like when youngster Ajitesh Rai, who was aggressive, lacked the finish hitting directly to onrushing goalkeeper David Van Rysselberghe in the early part of the match.