{"id":1245,"date":"2011-12-03T18:20:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-03T18:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/?p=1245"},"modified":"2011-12-03T18:20:46","modified_gmt":"2011-12-03T18:20:46","slug":"champions-challenge-india-play-belgium-for-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/?p=1245","title":{"rendered":"Champions Challenge: India play Belgium for gold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Johannesberg: <\/strong>Sandeep Singh almost single-handedly destroyed  South Africa\u2019s chances of booking their place at the London Olympics  after firing in two second-half trademark penalty corner drag flicks in a  pulsating contest played in searing heat at the Randpark Hockey  Stadium. The result left the home side needing to travel to Japan in  April to take part in an Olympic qualifying tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>India,  the eight times Olympic champions, twice came from behind to level at  2-2 before seizing the initiative after the interval scoring twice in a  decisive six minute spell mid-way through the half to go 4-2 up. Roared  on by a huge partisan crowd South Africa responded superbly, dominating  possession and throwing everything at their opponents to try and reduce  the deficit but India\u2019s defence held firm.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of  India\u2019s defence is the towering figure of 25-year-old Sandeep who said  he was delighted his side had qualified for the final, remaining on  course to try and regain a place at the Champions Trophy for the first  time since 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Sandeep was quick to praise South Africa, a side  he thought had improved immensely. He added: \u201cThey were much tougher  than in the pool match when we won 7-4 and we rate them as a very good  team. They dominated the first-half but once we were behind we  concentrated on a more attacking style and counter-attacking. We forced  the turnovers and created the chances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Belgium kept alive their  hopes of making their first ever appearance at the Champions Trophy with  a dramatic 3-2 victory over Argentina in a shoot-out after the sides  were locked at 2-2 after extra-time.<\/p>\n<p><em>Courtesy: www. http:\/\/www.fih.ch\/en<br \/> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Johannesberg: <\/strong>Sandeep Singh almost single-handedly destroyed  South Africa\u2019s chances of booking their place at the London Olympics  after firing in two second-half trademark penalty corner drag flicks in a  pulsating contest played in searing heat at the Randpark Hockey  Stadium. The result left the home side needing to travel to Japan in  April to take part in an Olympic qualifying tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-hockey-hockey"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Champions Challenge: India play Belgium for gold - IndianSportsNews.com - Latest Updated Sports News &amp; Sports Blogs of Cricket, Hockey, Golf, Football, Tennis &amp; Other Sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/?p=1245\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Champions Challenge: India play Belgium for gold - IndianSportsNews.com - Latest Updated Sports News &amp; Sports Blogs of Cricket, Hockey, Golf, Football, Tennis &amp; Other Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Johannesberg: Sandeep Singh almost single-handedly destroyed South Africa\u2019s chances of booking their place at the London Olympics after firing in two second-half trademark penalty corner drag flicks in a pulsating contest played in searing heat at the Randpark Hockey Stadium. The result left the home side needing to travel to Japan in April to take part in an Olympic qualifying tournament.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/?p=1245\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IndianSportsNews.com - Latest Updated Sports News &amp; Sports Blogs of Cricket, Hockey, Golf, Football, Tennis &amp; Other Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-03T18:20:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/indiansportsnews.co.in\\\/?p=1245#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/indiansportsnews.co.in\\\/?p=1245\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/indiansportsnews.co.in\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b8f51f3c66686ab3518464e9b8368646\"},\"headline\":\"Champions Challenge: India play Belgium for gold\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-03T18:20:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/indiansportsnews.co.in\\\/?p=1245\"},\"wordCount\":286,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Hockey\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/indiansportsnews.co.in\\\/?p=1245#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/indiansportsnews.co.in\\\/?p=1245\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/indiansportsnews.co.in\\\/?p=1245\",\"name\":\"Champions Challenge: India play Belgium for gold - IndianSportsNews.com - Latest Updated Sports News &amp; 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