ERROL D’CRUZ

Almost 50 years ago, India squared up to Belgium in a final. The occasion was the Rene Frank International tournament in Madras (now Chennai) to mark the erstwhile Indian Hockey Federation’s golden jubilee.

An anxious Higher Secondary schoolboy asked his PE teacher and hockey coach, Oliver Andrade, the doyen of grassroots coaches in Mumbai, whether India could lose to Belgium. “Never! India cannot lose this match,” came his quick response.

He was right. India didn’t lose but the then World Cup champions huffed and puffed to a 2-0 win. The struggle that the Belgians put them through was forgotten in the euphoria of victory and the grand expectation of adding the Olympic gold medal to the World Cup won earlier in the year.

The Games were held the following summer and we all know what transpired on the artificial pitch in Montreal. The disasters that unfolded haunt Indian hockey till this day.

As for Belgium, they had a moment in Montreal – that of upsetting Spain and forcing them into a playoff against eventual champions New Zealand for a semi-final spot.

But the Red Lions as they are now popularly referred to remained in the bottom half of the placings in the Games.

Fast forward 48 years. On Thursday, India take on Belgium at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir at the 2024 Paris Olympics. To say it’s a different hockey world is an understatement. For one thing, Belgium are currently ranked fourth – a rung above eight-time Olympic gold medalists India – and are the defending champions.

The Red Lions have also featured in four successive Olympic/World Cup gold medal clashes (2016, 2018, 2020, 2023) winning the 2018 and 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold.

To boot, they also won the 2019 EuroHockey Championship gold after two silver medals in 2013 and 2017. And, not surprisingly, buoyed by a golden, albeit aging, generation of players, they hold on to the favourites tag in the ongoing Games.

More so after a dumbfounding result – the taking apart of their Tokyo final opponents Australia 6-2!

India, who have already secured a quarter-final spot with two wins and a draw, take on a Red Lions team in full flow. Maybe nerves will not jangle in the Indian camp as much as it would have had they not secured quarterfinal qualification but the heat is on to avoid fourth place in the pool and be pitted against Pool A winners which could potentially be Netherlands or Germany.

Recent meetings in the FIH Pro League in Antwerp are not very encouraging for an Indian fan. India lost the first match in a shootout after a 2-2 draw and lost the second 1-4.

At the Tokyo Olympics, India went down to the Red Lions 2-5 in the semi-finals. At Rio 2016 they lost 1-3 to Belgium in the quarterfinals. The 2018 Bhubaneswar World Cup pool match, however, ended 2-2 .

It’s a far cry from the first-ever Olympic clash between the two nations. In Amsterdam in 1928, the Wizard Dhyan Chand’s magical Indians swamped Belgium 9-0 who eventually finished fourth. The Belgians won a bronze medal at home in Antwerp Olympics in 1920 but subsequent appearances at the Games saw them finish in the lower half of the field save the 1948 edition where they took fifth position.

Belgium have participated in 15 Olympics and seven World Cups but their rise into the top echelons began in the new millennium when a revamp of structure and focus on youth took place in this country of 11 million.

The Red Lions gave a hint of things to come at the 2007 EuroHockey Championships in Manchester, England. Playing Germany for the bronze medal, they staged a late rearguard to win and compel their vaunted opponents to endure an Olympic qualifying tournament.

It also meant Belgium participated in the Olympics after a 32-year hiatus. They finished ninth in Beijing and after the heartbreak of missing the 2010 World Cup by a whisker, Belgium began their meteoric rise to the top.

They qualified for the 2012 London Olympics and narrowly missed the semi-finals, eventually finishing fifth. But in the meantime, the golden generation had begun to take their first major strides in international hockey.

The Red Lions beat India 4-3 in the 2011 Champions Challenge final in Johannesburg, South Africa (a qualifier for the now defunct elitist ChampionsTrophy) and a core group of stalwarts were to shape Belgium’s illustrious future.

Down 1-3, Belgium pieced together a stirring rearguard and in hindsight was the genesis of their eminence in the sport. Tom Boon and Gauthier Boccard in the current squad were on the scoresheet in that final that launched Belgium into the big time with a spot in the 2012 Champions Trophy.

Former Australian stars Adam Commens and Colin Batch were head coaches of the Red Lions in the period 2007 to 2012 as Belgium began their quest of climbing the international ladder.

The trend-setters sublime efforts have now presented Belgium with a team laden with experience lead by 36-year-old midfielder John-John Dohmen who has a world record 475 international caps! Midfielder and twice FIH Player of the Year Arthur van Doren (241) has been an integral part of Belgium’s success over the years. Then there’s Felix Denayer, the captain, with 396 caps that keeps Van Doren company in the midfield.

Gauthier Boccard (298), a defender who doesn’t shy of venturing deep into enemy territory, has played in 298 internationals bolsters the defence along with Belgium’s trump card Alexander Hendrickx whose penalty corner drag flicks are now legendary. Another defender and drag-flicker Loick Luypaert has 309 internationals under his belt to give the defence a secure look.

Tom Boon, who scored three goals in the rout of Australia on Tuesday, is a mainstay for more than a decade now and threatens in open play and fearsome drag flicks in his 348 appearances in a Red Lions shirt.

But can we forget Vincent Vanasch, the sprightly goalkeeper? Vanasch starred in two shootout victories for his country in major finals – the 2018 World Cup and 2020 Olympics. His heroics in goal is always worth scoring a goal or two and has led to agony and frustration in the ranks of the opponents.

Other key players who haven’t yet crossed the 200 mark include Arthur de Sloover (161), sturdy defender, Victor Wegnez a youthful sensation at the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Euros, with 169 caps and ebullient forward Nelson Onana who at 24 has made a terrific impact in just 35 internationals.

Maybe it’s a tryst with field hockey that Belgium have. Rene Frank, a Belgian, was FIH president from 1966 till he passed away in 1983, and presided over the destiny of the sport in its key development that saw the rules changed in a torrent and the approval of artificial surfaces.

And, for long, the FIH headquarters was in Brussels before moving to Lausanne, Switzerland, in the new millennium.

Hockey was introduced to Belgium, a founding member of the FIH, in 1902. The country has an elaborate club structure that draws several foreign players in its 12-strong premier league. In keeping with their maiden World Cup victory, Waterloo Ducks became the first Belgian club to win the European Hockey League title in 2019.

Critics say that Belgian hockey wallowed in mediocrity and an abject lack of professionalism despite the presence of skillful players right through the 1900s till the renaissance of the 2000s. This Dark Age appears to be a thing of the past as the Red Lions eye another top-podium finish in Paris.