International

FIH Hockey Junior Men’s World Cup: Host India wins medal after 9 years, defeats Argentina in bronze medal playoff

By Samira Vishwas

Chennai, 10 December. Host India on Wednesday managed to win a medal at the FIH Hockey Junior Men’s World Cup tournament after nine years as it made a strong comeback from two goals down in the 49th minute and scored four goals in the last 11 minutes to defeat 2021 winners Argentina 4-2 in the bronze medal playoff match in the 14th edition of the competition.

Germany champion for the eighth time, Spain defeated in shootout

On the other hand, defending champion Germany won the title for the eighth time by defeating Spain 3-2 in the penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw till the stipulated time in a very exciting final match. Earlier, in the match for fifth and sixth place, Belgium defeated Netherlands 4-3 in the shootout, while in the match for seventh and eighth place, France defeated New Zealand 4-1.

The two-time former champions were trailing by 2 goals till the third quarter.

Talking about India, a two-time former champion (Hobart 2001 and Lucknow 2016) and having finished fourth after losing the bronze medal match in the last two editions, the host camp was also worried in front of the home crowd at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium today, when Argentina took a 2-0 lead till the third quarter with goals from Nicolas Rodriguez (fifth minute) and Santiago Fernandes (44th minute).

Ankit, Manmeet, Shardanand and Anmol scored 4 goals in the last 11 minutes.

But as soon as the play of the last quarter started, the Indians gathered strength and Ankit Pal (49th minute), Manmeet Singh (52nd minute), Shardanand Tiwari (57th minute) and Anmol Ekka (58th minute) scored four goals in a row to ensure the team’s victory.

Ankit opened India’s account by converting a penalty corner in the 49th minute, while in the 52nd minute, Anmol Ekka’s shot at the penalty corner deflected and went inside the goal after hitting Manmeet’s stick. After the score was tied at 2-2, it seemed that the match would go to a shootout.

But with three minutes left for the final whistle, India got an important penalty stroke, which was converted by Shardanand Tiwari to give India the lead for the first time. Argentina got a penalty corner in the next minute, but goalkeeper of the tournament Princedeep Singh once again made a brilliant save. Anmol Ikka converted the penalty corner that India got in the 58th minute and ensured the victory of the hosts.

Spain, playing the final for the first time, gave a tough competition to the Germans.

As far as the title match is concerned, two-time former bronze medalist Spain gave a tough fight to the Germans and kept the score at 1-1 till the stipulated time. Justus Warweg scored a goal in the 26th minute for Germany, who broke India’s challenge in the semi-finals, while for Spain, G Corominas scored an equalizing goal in the 54th minute.

Ultimately, in the penalty shootout, Benedict Geyer, Alec von Schwerin and Ben Hassbach scored for Germany, while only Pablo Roman and Juan Prado could score for Spain, who were playing the final for the first time. Germany has previously won the title in 1982, 1985, 1989, 1993, 2009, 2013 and 2023, whereas Spain had so far won only bronze medals in the 2005 (Rotterdam) and 2023 (Kualanpur) tournaments.

 

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