Riding high on confidence after their 5-1 win over Spain in the third match of the Tour of Belgium, the Indian men's hockey team started on an attacking note against the hosts and earned a penalty corner in the 10th minute, which was duly converted by Rohidas to give his side the lead.
The 36-year-old goalkeeper, a veteran of 328 international matches, took to social media to announce his decision.
A lacklustre India squandered a one-goal advantage and went down 1-3 to Belgium in the quarter-finals of the men's hockey competition at the Rio Olympics on Sunday. The eight-time Olympic gold medallists took the lead through a fine field goal from Akashdeep Singh in the 15th minute before Belgium scored three field goals through Sebastien Dockier (34th, 45th minute) and Tom Boon (50th) to dash India's hopes of their first medal after their last gold in 1980 at Moscow.
The top two teams from the Super 4s will progress to the summit clash, and a draw would be enough for India to seal their place in Sunday's final.
Hockey India has announced a 24-member Indian men's team for the European leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League, set to be played in Amstelveen, Netherlands and Antwerp, Belgium, from June 7.
Never give up, fight till last moment: Sreejesh's learning from Rohit's men
Indian men's hockey team leaves for Mike Horn's base in Switzerland ahead of Paris Olympics
Belgium set up an intriguing men's Olympic hockey final against Argentina after they dumped out the world's second-ranked team the Netherlands with a resounding 3-1 semi-final victory on Tuesday.
Having lost the series 0-3 Belgium had the consolation of beating India 3-2 in the fifth and final match of the hockey Test series at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium in Chennai on Thursday night.
India won the gold medal in the Junior Hockey World Cup after defeating Belgium 2-1 at the Major Dyan Chand stadium in Lucknow on Sunday.
'We haven't won the tournament for a while and the objective is to be No.1 in Asia and we will be pushing hard for the next 10 days.'
Belgium stunned six-time champions and title holders Germany 4-3 in the shoot out to progress to their maiden final of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Lucknow on Friday.
The Indians finished Pool A engagements with an all-win record, beating China 4-3, Japan 3-2 before demolishing minnows Kazakhstan 15-0 on Monday.
Harmanpreet Singh will lead a 24-member Indian squad in the Europe leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League starting on May 22.
India were outclassed 0-4 by hosts Belgium in a lop-sided last-four clash, with Florent Van Aubel's fine hat-trick playing a pivotal role in the side's passage to the final of the FIH Hockey World League semi-finals in Antwerp.
India are placed in Pool B alongside defending champions Belgium, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland.
India stunned Tokyo Games silver medallist and their biggest nemesis Australia 3-2 in Paris on Friday
The Indian men's hockey team beat Ireland despite a few defense lapses to more or less secure its passage into the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics.
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives and injured many, the government ordered all Pakistani nationals to leave the country and revoked their visas.
Striker Abhishek struck a brace as a dominant Indian men's hockey team outplayed China 7-0 in their last Super 4s match to reach the final of the Asia Cup
India went down fighting 1-2 to Belgium in a thrilling final of the first-leg of the Four-Nation Invitational tournament at the Blake Park, in Tauranga, New Zealand, on Sunday.
Sandeep Singh struck twice and custodian Bharat Chetri saved a penalty stroke to steer India to a 3-2 win over hosts Belgium in the second hockey Test in Antwerp.
India's star hockey player Rani Rampal has become the first woman in the sport to have a stadium named after her, in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.
India conceded a soft goal in the fifth minute of the second semi-final encounter when Cedric Charlier scored from a field strike for Belgium, which eventually separated both the teams at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel stadium.
'After 1980, our last and eighth gold medal in the Olympics, the game changed drastically when astro-turf was introduced.'
The Indian men's hockey team defeated France 5-4 in their fourth and final match of the 5 Nations Tournament Valencia 2023 on Saturday.
Hosts India drawn with England, Spain and Wales in Pool D of FIH World Cup
The 2026 men's hockey World Cup will be held from August 14 to 30 in Wavre, Belgium and Amstelveen, Netherlands.
A poor display in penalty shootout cost the Indian women's hockey team dearly as they lost 0-2 to Argentina after the Salima Tete-led side came back from two goals down in a FIH Pro League match in London on Wednesday.
India named South Africa's Craig Fulton as the new chief coach of the men's hockey team, who finished a disappointing ninth in the World Cup at home.
India have won three medals in the World Cup so far -- a third place finish in the inaugural edition in 1971, followed by a silver in 1973 and gold in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur.
India continued their goal-scoring spree and thrashed Belgium 4-0 in their second Group G play-off match for 9 to 16 positions in the FIH Junior Men's Hockey World Cup in Singapore on Monday. Captain Diwakar Ram (25 minute), Mohammad Amir Khan (27th), Victo Singh (40th) and Jay Karan (59th) scored a goal each to ensure the facile win for India at the Seng Kang Sports Complex.
The hosts piled pressure on India with their structured attack and earned two penalty corners in the 5th and 7th respectively, but the Indian defence stood tall to deny them from scoring the second goal.
India's shaky defence conceded a goal 15 seconds from the hooter to go down 2-3 against Belgium in their opening game of hockey World Cup at the Kyocera Stadium on Saturday.
Olympic silver medallist Belgium created history by making their maiden appearance in the men's hockey World Cup summit clash, thrashing England 6-0 in a lopsided first semi-final.
Jean-Laurent Kierffer scored a brace as France stunned European champions Belgium 5-4 in a nail-biting encounter to enter the semi-finals of the ongoing Hero Junior Men's Hockey World Cup in Delhi on Thursday.
Harmanpreet Singh's goal from a penalty stroke just a minute from the hooter gave India victory over New Zealand in the men's hockey tournament atthe Olympics on Saturday.
A round-up of matches from the Hockey World Cup played on Saturday.
Asian champions India are placed in Pool C alongside Canada, South Korea and Spain. They start their tournament campaign against Korea on December 5.
