Belgium finished runners-up to India at the last Junior World Cup in Lucknow five years ago. Their senior team then won the 2018 World Cup in Bhubaneswar, the first-ever title by a Belgian team in any sport.

The Belgium U-21 team is back in India, looking to go one better than their predecessors when the 2021 edition of the FIH Men’s Junior World Cup gets under way in Bhubaneswar on November 24. Interacting with the media in a virtual conference on Thursday, November 2021, captain Dylan Englebert and head coach Jeroen Baart exuded enthusiasm and expectation ahead of a tough tournament.

Englebert spoke about preparation for the event well ahead of time.

“We started training three years ago and we played a tournament in Spain involving four European nations. We meet for training three times a week and then join our clubs at the end of the week. We have had good preparation by playing in the Belgium club competition,” Englebert added.

In all this was the challenges thrown in by the Covid pandemic and Englebert spoke of strict tests and adherence to safety protocol even while following a rigorous training regimen.

Baart threw some light on the structure for the selection of the team. “Players play for the district, then state, before being selected to the national programme.

“If we have missed spotting talent, they get another chance to show themselves in the club competition. We have fine tuned this process two years ago with practice games against the national team. We also have matches against teams like Germany, The Netherlands and England.”

Lucknow 2016 witnessed the first-ever entry into the Junior World Cup final by Belgium. It came in the midst of the country’s surge into the top bracket of international hockey exemplified by the senior string which clinched silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics a few months earlier.

A clutch of players from that Lucknow expedition graduated to the Red Lions squad and formed the nucleus of their gold medal triumph at Tokyo 2020.

Visiting India, for Englebert and team, has been a “dream come true”. “The boys have heard of the experience of playing in India before huge crowds and are very excited to play in a huge stadium even though there will no spectators allowed in.

“We have waited a long time for this tournament and are happy it will be held after there were doubts about it caused by the pandemic.”

Baart, on his part, keenly looks forward to the competition. “I am really curious to know how far we can go. Our aim is to go as far as possible – so it means we aim to win the World Cup.

“Victor Wegnez (a Red Lions star) who played in Lucknow was the connect with the huge crowds at the matches and his accounts from the experience on how to handle such pressure has helped in some way in winning the Olympic gold medal”.

About the composition of the team, Englebert reveals it’s a collection of students mainly, some even studying medicine.

“The players have learned to combine hockey with studies and they do it very well,” he said.

“We have players coming from the Flemish and French speaking areas of the country. But when we come together for the national team we speak in English.”

A unified linguistic strategy, adopted by Belgium hockey, it would seem. Something that goes well with a concerted, combined and consistent strategy in terms of hockey that has propelled the Red Lions to the top of the world.