India finish eighth at the hockey World Cup after a 4-3 shootout in Wavre

India ended the FIH Men's World Cup in eighth place on Friday after losing 4-3 to co-hosts Belgium in a penalty shootout at the Belfius Hockey Arena in Wavre. Regulation time finished 3-3. Harmanpreet Singh scored with 26 seconds left from a penalty corner, his second goal of the night and his eighth of the tournament, joint-top with Argentina's Tomas Domene with a day of matches still to play.

Vincent Vanasch, Belgium's goalkeeper, then stopped Harmanpreet and Sukhjeet Singh in the shootout. Shilanand Lakra, Dilpreet Singh and Abhishek converted for India. Tom Boon, Arthur de Sloover, Alexander Hendrickx and Roman Duvekot scored for Belgium. Victor Fourbert missed. India goalkeeper Mohith H.S. committed early on several attempts. Belgium took seventh. India took eighth.

How the 60 minutes ran

Abhishek Nain put India ahead in the sixth minute when his shot deflected in off Hendrickx. Belgium answered in a two-minute burst: Roman Duvekot in the 22nd minute, Hugo Labouchere from a penalty corner in the 23rd. Harmanpreet levelled in the 31st. After half-time the match turned on an injury. Manpreet Singh, the veteran midfielder, was struck near the eye as he closed on Labouchere's shot. He left the pitch bloodied. The home crowd applauded him off. Belgium scored through Nicolas de Kerpel in the 46th (Arthur De Sloover is also listed at 47 minutes in one official report; the Hindu's match account names de Kerpel at 46). India hunted a corner and found one with 26 seconds on the clock. Harmanpreet beat Vanasch. Shootout.

Amit Rohidas earned his 250th international cap. Rajinder Singh received his 50th. Those milestones sat inside a classification match that was supposed to be the last chance at a first World Cup medal in 51 years. That chance had already died in the second group stage.

How India arrived at seventh-eighth

Pool D began well. India beat Wales 3-1 and Pakistan 5-3, then lost 2-4 to England and still advanced. Pool E, the second group, returned nothing. A 1-3 loss to the Netherlands included three late goals against. A 5-3 loss to Argentina ended semi-final hopes. India took zero points from that group. Netherlands and Argentina went through. England, who had topped Pool D, also failed to reach the last four.

The squad came to Belgium ranked among the sides expected to contest the top six. Eighth is the number that will travel home. Harmanpreet's eight goals are the personal counterweight. He could not convert when the shootout asked him to repeat the 26-second strike.

The venue

The Belfius Hockey Arena opened in 2025 on the site of the old Racing Jet de Wavre football ground. Base capacity is 4,000, expandable to 10,000. Construction costs rose from an early 5.85 million euro budget to 10 to 11 million by opening. Belgium's men and women used it as a national home. The World Cup is the first senior world championship the building has hosted. Friday's classification match gave the co-hosts a home win in a shootout and a seventh-place finish.

What eighth means

India last stood on a World Cup podium in 1975. This campaign was designed to break that wait. It broke instead on two second-round losses and a shootout against a goalkeeper who had already been beaten twice in open play by the same captain. Manpreet's facial injury is the image that will sit beside the result. Rohidas's 250th cap is the other.

The tournament continues without India. Harmanpreet leaves as joint leading scorer with a day remaining. That statistic does not change the place in the table. Eighth is eighth. The shootout was 4-3. The last act in open play was a corner with 26 seconds left. Those are the numbers from Wavre.