Bhubaneswar: France registered victory over the defending champions India in their opening encounter as the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup has begun today. A brilliant effort at the end from the Indian Colts but they go down fighting to France. In the most recent Junior Hockey World Cup- Lucknow edition, France was unable to qualify, while India was crowned champion. Today, though, Vivek Prasad and his teammates have been totally outplayed by the French.
A total of 9 goals scored in the match and the French emerge on top with 5-4. With French player Timothee Clement scoring the first hattrick of the tournament while India went all out in the last minutes to create a comeback with scoring two goals in the waning minutes but fell short. Sanjay registered a hattrick as he goal for India via a penalty corner at the 57th minute.
In this match, France continues to dominate India. The French have played some excellent hockey today, and India has been unable to catch up with them. France have been accurate, resilient and have kept the Indians under the pump.
However, India defenders have been up to the mark until the 20th minute of the match. During the half-time, Uttam Singh scored the first for India after a failed clearance by France off the PC.
Earlier, Belgium registered victory over South Africa with 5-1 while Germany outplayed Pakistan by 5-2. Poland clearly dominated the match and did not let Canada open their account. While Malaysia – Chile had a fair game with Malaysia registering a victory by 2-1.
