India won bronze in Hockey World Cup, defeated Argentina 4-2

The Indian junior men’s hockey team performed amazingly and won a medal in the Junior World Cup after nine years by defeating Argentina 4-2 in the bronze medal match played on Wednesday. The special thing was that India changed the entire course of the match by scoring four consecutive goals in the last 11 minutes.

India won the title in 2001 and 2016

Earlier, India had won the title in 2001 and 2016. Last two times he had finished fourth after losing in the third place playoff. Ankit Pal (49th minute), Manmeet Singh (52nd minute), Shardanand Tiwari (57th minute) and Anmol Ikka (58th minute) scored goals for India. Nicolas Rodriguez (5th minute) and Santiago Fernandes (44th minute) scored goals for Argentina.

Pressure in the first three quarters, stormy comeback in the last quarter

The beginning of the match was bad for India. In the very first minutes, due to the mistake of Anmol Ekka, Argentina got a penalty stroke, on which Nicolas Rodriguez scored the goal. After the initial shock, the Indian team kept trying to regain composure throughout the first quarter, but could not capitalize on the scoring opportunities.

In the second quarter also, India came close to scoring the equalizing goal, but the weak shots of Dilraj Singh and Arshdeep inside the circle were easily stopped by the Argentinian goalkeeper. India’s weakness at penalty corners was also exposed, when the goal could not be scored on four consecutive occasions.

Argentina increased India’s problems by doubling the lead in the third quarter. Santiago Fernandes made the score 2-0 by sending the ball into the goal with a brilliant individual effort.

India’s storm of goals started from the 49th minute

India completely changed the course of the game in the fourth quarter. Ankit Pal converted the penalty corner in the 49th minute. After this, in the 52nd minute, with the shot of Anmol Ikka at another penalty corner, the ball hit the stick of Manmeet Singh and went into the net and the score became equal to 2-2.

In the 57th minute, India got an important penalty stroke, which Shardanand Tiwari converted with great patience and gave the team a decisive lead. One minute later, Anmol Ikka made the score 4-2 with a precise shot from the penalty corner and India registered a thrilling victory amid loud applause from the audience.