Chennai: India produced a braveheart performance, overcoming a two-goal deficit to beat Argentina 4-2 and clinch the bronze medal in the FIH Men’s Junior World Cup here on Wednesday.
India, who won the title in 2016 in Lucknow, failed to finish on the podium on the last two occasions, ending fourth in 2021 in Bhubaneswar, and two years later in Kuala Lumpur.
India produced a valiant fightback with Ankit Pal (49th minute), Manmeet Singh (52nd) and Anmol Ekka (58th) converting penalty corners, while Sharda Nand Tiwari finding the net from the spot in the 57th minute.
Argentina were the better side on display at least in the first two quarters, scoring through Nicolas Rodriguez (3rd minute) and Santiago Fernandez (44th).
Germans lift title, again
Defending champions Germany reclaimed their eighth FIH Junior World Cup title, beating a spirited Spain 3-2 in shoot-out after the scores were leveled 1-1 at the end of regulation time in the final.
Germany took the lead in the 26th minute through a brilliantly crafted field goal by Justus Warweg before Spain drew level through another field strike by Nicolas Mustaros in the 33rd minute.
There after, both the teams matched chances but couldn’t really finish off things to take the match into shoot-out.
In the shoot-out, Pablo Roman and Juan Prado found the net for Spain, while for the Germans Benedikt Geyer, Alec von Schwerin and Ben Hasbach scored.
Earlier in the day, Belgium defeated Netherlands 4-3 in shoot out to finish fifth in the tournament. In the regulation 60 minutes, both the sides were tied 3-3.
Hugo Labouchere (18th, 30th, 58th minutes) slammed a hat-trick for Belgium, while Netherlands’ goals were scored by Thies Bakker (30th), Casper van der Veen (43rd) and Joppe Wolbert (44th) in the regulation time. Last edition’s runners-up France beat New Zealand 4-1 to finish seventh. Tom Gaillard (41st, 60) struck a brace for France, while Gabin Lorrazuri (2nd) and Victor Saint-Martin (13th) were the other goal getters for the winning side.