Quarter of job done

Bhubaneswar, December 1

Defending champions India beat Belgium by a solitary goal to progress to the semifinals of the FIH Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup here today.

India, who beat Belgium 2-1 in the final of the last edition in 2016, continued their domination over the European side in junior hockey.

Semifinals line-up

India vs Germany

Argentina vs France

Shardananad Tiwari’s penalty corner conversion in the 21st minute was enough for India to seal their place in the last-four. The Belgians started aggressively and created pressure on the Indian defence in the first few minutes. But the Indian backline produced good man-to-man marking and stayed calm under pressure to deny Belgium.

In the 13th minute, Belgium had the first shy at the goal but Indian custodian Prashant Chauhan was up to the task to deny Thibeau Stockbroekx from close range. India kept growing in confidence as the match progressed and six minutes into the second quarter they secured their first penalty corner. Tiwari was brilliantly set up by vice-captain Sanjay Kumar’s dummy and the drag-flicker made no mistake.

The Belgians came out attacking in the third quarter but failed to get the breakthrough. They went all out in the fourth quarter and controlled the proceedings but the Indian defence did enough to thwart their opponents.

India’s second goalkeeper Pawan was the star in the final quarter as he made several brilliant saves to keep the Belgians at bay.

“It was a good result,” chief coach Graham Reid said. “Our defence was much better than our first game against France. We did a lot of work on it. The good part is we know we can play much better. Both keepers played very well today. It was nice to see them really shine. But we have still got some work to do. We will look at today’s clips and pick out the things we need to fix and work on,” he added.

“One of things I talk a lot about is focus and making sure that whenever we are on the pitch we are living in the present. Every ball, every detail count. They showed that tonight. Calmness normally comes from being prepared,” the Australian said.

India will take on last edition’s bronze medallists Germany in the semifinals on Friday.

Six-time champions

Six-time champions Germany and Argentina earned hard-fought wins over Spain and Netherlands, respectively, while France cruised past Malaysia to enter the semifinals. In the first quarterfinal, Germany eked out a shootout win after both the teams were locked at 2-2 in regulation time. Earlier, Argentina beat Netherlands 2-1 and France beat Malaysia 4-0. — PTI

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