Prince stands tall in goal, India beat Belgium to enter semis

chennai: Goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh channelized his inner ‘PR Sreejesh’ to pull off a couple of spectacular saves in a pulsating shoot-out as India edged out a spirited Belgium 4-3 to enter the semi-final of the FIH Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup here on Friday.

The two teams were locked 2-2 after regulation time and in the shootout, Sharda Nand Tiwary converted three strokes while Prince Deep pulled off couple of extraordinary saves to steer India into the last four.

Prince Deep’s final save where denied the rival player twice, the second time with a full-stretched dive to pave the way for a famous win.

India will meet defending champions Germany in the semi-final. Incidentally last time India won the junior global trophy, it was held in Lucknow back in 2016.

In the regulation time, India converted two penalty corners through skipper Rohit (45th minute) and Tiwari (48th), while Belgium’s goals scored two field goals through Gaspard Cornez-Massant (13th) and Nathan Rogge (59th).

Belgium’s goals in the shoot-out were scored by Hugo Labouchere, Guerlain Hawaux and Charles Langendries.

In the shoot-out, Tiwari scored from the spot thrice following fouls, while Ankit Pal also found the net.

Prince Deep, who made those brilliant saves in the shoot-out to emerge as the star of the day credited the coach and vociferous support from the Chennai crowd as reasons for win.

Germany beat France

Seven-time champions Germany advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 win in the shoot-out over a gutsy France after both the teams were locked 2-2 at the end of regulation time here on Friday.

Germany had eked out a narrow 2-1 win over France in the final of the

2023 edition.