KUALA LUMPUR – The stage is set for high-level hockey over the next six days as “frenemies” India and Pakistan became the last two teams to secure their quarter-finals berths at the Hockey Junior World Cup.
The Men in Blue, eyeing their third Junior World Cup title, easily cruised past minnows Canada by trouncing them 10-1 in a Group C match at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.
Head coach C.R. Kumar expressed his satisfaction with his side for putting in their full effort to guarantee qualification for the knockouts.
“Seeing us progress from such a tough group is indeed a great achievement for us. I’m proud of my boys for showing up after losing our previous match against Spain.
“Our overall goal was to push the tempo of the game faster by playing more short passes, and I’m happy that my boys followed my instructions and executed them very well.
“More than that, I’m also happy to see my boy Rohit Ubayveer defending with fervour to protect our goal, and I hope to see him defending more of the opponents’ attacks in upcoming matches and lead us as far as we can in this tournament.
“The Canadians showed good effort throughout the game, and we need to give them credit for putting up a good game,” said Kumar in today’s post-match press conference.
India’s 10-1 win was the second highest, after Germany’s 10-0 thrashing of Egypt, in the ongoing World Cup.
Rohit was on target in the 12th and 55th minutes, tallying three goals in two matches.
Arjun Lalage Aditya (eighth, 43rd) and Amandeep Lakra (23rd, 51st) each scored braces while Vishnukant Singh (42nd), Rajinder Singh (42nd), Anand Kushwaha Sourabh (51st) and captain Uttam Singh (58th) were also on target.
Canada replied through Jude Nicholson in the 20th minute.
Meanwhile, the final match in Group D saw Pakistan staging a comeback against Belgium to guarantee their knockout stage slot, ending the match in a 1-1 draw.
Head coach Roelant Oltmans said that he is proud to witness his team making it into the next stage of the tournament for the first time in two decades.
“The start of the game was not what we wanted as we conceded in the second minute of the match, but we kept marching on, penetrating their defence well and threatening them with counter-attacks, which ultimately led to our equaliser.
“We made sure that Belgium couldn’t break through our defensive wall; we aim to continue this tactic as I see that European teams tend to struggle against us when we use this strategy.
“We will keep our forts strong in the next match and ensure that we keep terrorising our opponents with our physical gameplay for the rest of this tournament,” said Roelant.
The Dutchman, who has the experience of winning the Junior World Cup in 2016 with India, will be hoping to repeat his feat with Pakistan as they take on Spain in their quarter-final on December 12.
India will take on reigning European champions the Netherlands in another quarter-final on the same day. – December 9, 2023
