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FIH Hockey Junior Men’s World Cup: Host India in semi-finals, defeats Belgium in penalty shootout

By Samira Vishwas

Chennai, 5 December. The Indian team entered the semi-finals of the FIH Hockey Junior Men’s World Cup with a thrilling 4-3 (2-2) win against Belgium on the back of a brilliant performance by goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh in the penalty shootout after conceding a goal in the last minute of the scheduled time here on Friday.

India will now compete with Germany

India will now face Germany on December 7 while Spain will face Argentina. In other quarterfinal matches played today at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium, Germany defeated France 3-1 in the penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw, while Argentina defeated Netherlands 1-0 and Spain defeated New Zealand 4-3.

Shardanand Tiwari scored 3 goals for India in the shootout.

Talking about India vs Belgium match, till the scheduled time the score was equal to 2-2. The Indian team had to suffer the consequences of negligence a minute before the final whistle and Belgium took the match to a shootout with the help of Rose Nathan’s goal. In the shootout, Shardanand Tiwari scored three goals (on penalty stroke) and Ankit Pal scored one goal for India, while Hujo Labuschere, G Houx and Charles L scored goals for Belgium.

Captain Rohit finally equalized for India in the third quarter

Earlier in the match, Belgium kept India under pressure with their accurate passing and ball control till the 45th minute, but in the third quarter, the picture of the match changed as soon as captain Rohit scored an equalizing goal on the penalty corner in the last minute. It seemed as if there was excitement among the spectators present in the packed Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium. This also removed the disappointment caused by Rohit’s unsuccessful attempt at a penalty corner two minutes earlier. Belgium got three consecutive penalty corners in the last minute, but the Indian defense did not make any mistakes this time.

Shardanand gave the lead in the last quarter, Belgium’s Rose equalized the score.

Belgium started the fourth quarter very aggressively and scored a penalty corner in the very first minute but could not take the lead. In the counter-attack, India got a penalty corner in the 48th minute and as soon as Shardanand Tiwari gave India the lead, the entire stadium echoed with the noise of ‘India India’. It is a coincidence that with the help of Shardanand’s decisive goal, the Indian junior team reached the last four by defeating the same opponent by one goal in the quarter-finals of the tournament held in Bhubaneswar four years ago. At present, Rose scored a goal in the last minute to give Belgium an equaliser, taking the match to a shootout.

Belgium took the lead in the first quarter with Kornage’s goal.

Earlier in the opening quarter, India got a golden opportunity to score in the sixth minute itself, but Manmeet’s shot was saved by the Belgian goalkeeper. The host team got its first penalty corner after four minutes but Shardanand’s attempt failed. On the other hand, the Belgian team did not delay in counter-attacking and it paid off when in the 13th minute, Kornage scored a brilliant field goal and exposed the Indian defence, which had not faced any challenge till now in the tournament.

Belgium had a one-goal lead in the first quarter. India got a chance to equalize in the 24th minute, but Saurabh Anand Kushwaha could not catch the pass from the left side. India could not get success even with the variation on the penalty corner they got in the very next minute.

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