Junior WC: India sets up QF clash with Belgium

After scoring hat-tricks in the first two games, vice-captain Sanjay (4th and 58th minute) continued his goal-scoring spree for India while Araijeet (8th and 60th), who scored a hat-trick against Canada, too registered his name on the scoresheet. Sudeep (24th and 40th) also contributed to the team’s win with a double while Uttam Singh (34th) and Shardanand Tiwari (38th) were the other goal scorers for the host in the Pool B game.

Poland scored both its goals in the final quarter through Wojciech Rutkowski (50th) and Robert Pawlak (54th). India will now face last edition’s runner-up Belgium in the quarter-finals on December 1. Belgium topped Pool A ahead of Malaysia on goal difference after both the teams finished on seven points each.

Up against Poland in a must-win match, the Indians started from where they left against Canada and put immense pressure on goal from the onset. Their efforts bore fruit in just the fourth minute when drag-flicker Sanjay scored his seventh goal of the tournament, yet again from a penalty corner.

India stayed aggressive and doubled its lead four minutes later through another penalty corner, this time from the stick of Araijeet. Sudeep tripled India’s lead in the 24th minute through a fine field goal to go into the half-time break leading 3-0.

Four minutes into the third quarter, Uttam extended India’s advantage with another field strike before Tiwari converted a penalty corner to make it 5-0. Sudeep once again found himself in the thick of things, scoring another field goal in the 40th minute.

Trailing 0-6, Poland earned a barrage of penalty corners and in the process, found the net twice to reduce the margin. But, home team India finished on a strong note when Sanjay and Araijeet scored from field play.