Vice-captain Sanjay scored a second consecutive hat-trick while Araijeet Singh Hundal too found the net thrice as defending champions India bounced back strongly to defeat Canada 13-1 in their second Pool B match of the FIH Odisha Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup on Thursday.
An astonishing 70 goals were scored on the second day of action at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, with Spain setting a new record for goals scored at the event in a single match. The European side put 17 goals past the USA in the third match of the day. The previous record was a 13-0 victory for India against Singapore at the 1982 Junior World Cup that was already broken in the first match of the day when Argentina won 14-0 against Egypt.
Stunned by France 5-4 in their tournament opener, the Indians roared back, with three goals each from Sanjay (17th, 32nd, 59th) and Hundal (40th, 50th, 51st). Uttam Singh (3rd, 47th), Shardanand Tiwai (35th, 53rd), skipper Vivek Sagar Prasad (8th), Maninder Singh (27th) and Abhishek Lakra (55th) were the other scorers.
France are now leading Pool B with two wins from as many games, after beating Poland 7-1 on Thursday, while India are placed second.
India will meet Poland in their last pool fixture on Saturday and must avoid defeat to progress to the quarterfinals with France all but assured of top spot, facing Canada in their final match.
Shocked by France on Wednesday, the Indians enjoyed the early share of possession and put pressure on the Canadian goal. India’s efforts bore fruit immediately when Uttam slapped in from inside the circle to give them a 1-0 lead. Uttam unfortunately suffered an ankle injury not long after.
The hosts kept up the pressure and extended their lead in the eight minute through skipper Vivek who flicked in after being fed by Maninder Singh, who had a great evening with assists galore.
Canada secured two back-to-back penalty corners in the 11th minute but wasted both as India ended the first quarter with a 2-0 lead.
Soon after the resumption, India made it 3-0 in their favour when Sanjay scored from the spot after being awarded a stroke following an infringement from their first penalty corner.
Two minutes from half time, India’s best player of the match, Maninder, registered his name in the scoresheet, slapping home with a reverse shot after dribbling past two Canadian defenders to give the holders a 4-0 lead.
Seconds from the second quarter, Canada pulled a goal back through a penalty corner conversion from Roopkanwar Dhillon that was deflected late by Chris Tardif.
India earned their third penalty corner just after the change of ends and once again Sanjay was bang on target. The Indians continued their offensive intent and secured two more penalty corners in quick succession, the second of which was converted by Shardanand Tiwari with a powerful grounded flick through the legs of Canada goalkeeper Daniel Goodwin.
The hosts extended their lead to 7-1 by converting another penalty corner in the 41st minute through the lanky Araijeet Hundal.
Uttam scored his second goal of the day in the 47th minute, with a fine field strike.
In the next minute Canada secured a penalty corner but the Indian defence was up to the task.
Thereafter, it was all India as Hundal scored two goals in quick succession to register a hat-trick.
A calm and composed Hundal first slapped home after being fed by Maninder and then found the back of the Canadian net with a quick, powerful hit from Sudeep’s assist.
There was more in store as seven minutes from the hooter, Tiwari converted his second penalty corner of the day to make it 11-1 in India’s favour.
Abhishek Lakra also found his name in the scoresheet, converting India’s eighth penalty corner, in the 55th minute.
Sanjay rounded off a perfect evening for India by converting another penalty corner in the final minute of the match for his second hat-trick, as the senior team with Harmanpreet Singh and Co watching on from the stands.
Argentina 14-0 Egypt (Pool D)
Argentina got their Junior World Cup campaign off to a flying start when they netted 14 times against a determined but error-prone Egypt.
Los Leoncitas captain Facundo Zarate started and finished the goal-fest with a well-taken penalty corner in the third minute of the game and a calm penalty stroke in the 58th minute. What followed was a clinical display of goal scoring as Argentina showed their quality with elegant, free-flowing passing and a wide variation of goal scoring and 10 different names on the score-sheet.
Coach Lucas Rey will be pleased with his team’s performance but will also be wary of the tougher test his team will face in their next encounter with Germany.
A happy Facundo Zarate speaking after the match, said: “We are very happy with the result. We trained a lot to be here and achieve such a result. We stayed very focused during the entire match. For the next match, we know that Germany is a very tough opponent. So, we will be there, ready to play against them and we will see how it will be going.
Netherlands 12-5 Korea (Pool C)
While the Netherlands will be happy to have started with a win and to have scored an impressive 12 goals, Head Coach Michiel van der Struijk will be concerned at the defensive errors that allowed Korea to score five times in response.
In Miles Bukkens, the Netherlands have found a goal-scoring supremo. The forward showed speed, flair and awareness to score five goals. However, teams will also be watching the penalty corner proficiency of Jeong Jun Seong of Korea who was unerring as he sent the ball past Flip Wijsman three times.
Spain 17-0 USA (Pool C)
Argentina may well have thought they had posted the top score of the day, but Spain had other ideas. USA held the European side at bay for seven minutes but then the floodgates opened. Manuel Rodriguez scored twice in the opening quarter, Guillermo Fortuno scored twice in the final minute of the game and another 13 goals were scored in between.
USA worked hard throughout but they were no match for the slick passing and speed of decision-making displayed by the Junior EuroHockey champions.
France 7-1 Poland (Pool B)
France continued their sparkling start to the competition with another energetic performance that put them firmly at the top of Pool B. Despite the scoreline this wasn’t a walkover as Poland defended hard and created their own chances. But France brought with them the confidence that the previous day’s victory over the host nation India had given them and they were strong and composed from the first whistle.
The opening goal was within a minute of the start and a 3-0 cushion before the end of the first quarter effectively put the game beyond Poland’s reach.
Canada 1-13 India (Pool B)
Struggling to make himself heard over the excitement following their win, Hundal: “We knew we had to come back and have a good performance today. For the next match [against Poland] it is all about building on this performance.”
Canada’s captain Manveer Jhamat said: “It was an amazing game, unfortunately it was not the result we were after. It was a hard fought game and the guys worked right until the end. We were just unfortunate in the D at either end. For the next game, we will compete in the same way and we will move on from this. For every single game we prepare and we will be fully ready for the next game.”