India thrash Canada 13-1 in Junior Hockey World Cup on a goal-fest day

Bhubaneswar, November 26, 2021

On a day when it rained goals with 70 being scored in five matches, hosts India unleashed their firepower as they trounced Canada 13-1 to record their first win in the Junior Hockey World Cup at Kalinga Stadium here on Thursday evening.

Still reeling under the unexpected first match defeat against France, the defending champions went all out on the attack from the very start against Canada and led 4-1 at halftime. However, in the second session, they just pulverized their rivals, pumping in nine more goals.

Sanjay, Araijeet Singh Hundal (3 each). Shardanand Tiwari, Uttam Singh (two each), Maninder Singh, Abhishekh Lakra and Vivek Prasad (one each) were the goal-getters for the winner. Christopher Tardif scored the lone goal for Canada.

In the morning, former champions Argentina blanked Egypt 14-0, while The Netherlands hammered Asian challenger South Korea 12-5.

In the afternoon, Spain toyed with the USA 17-0 while France recorded their second successive win overwhelming Poland 7-1.

India played a fast-paced game and virtually reduced the match to a no contest in the second half.

The hosts opened with a goal from Uttam Singh, who later limped off with an ankle injury.

Vivek Sagar Prasad made it 2-0 as he moved up from the left flank and slotted the ball home leaving the goalkeeper stranded.

After being defensive for over 15 minutes, the Canadians regrouped themselves and made a few counter forays. The Indians retaliated, Sanjay ran from the right flank but was roughly tackled by the defence. India got the penalty stroke but failed to score.

Maninder Singh then beat the defender and goalkeeper on his own inside the circle before scoring a goal to make it 3-0 and a few minutes later Sanjay made it 4-0;

Canada earned a hard-fought penalty stroke in the last minute of the second quarter and Chris Tardif managed to convert it (1-4).

In the second half, Canada was in total disarray as the Indians took full control of the field in the third quarter. Sanjay, Uttam and Araijeet Singh Hundal created many chances and scored goals for the hosts in the third quarter.

In the last quarter, Sharda Nand Tiwari scored a goal for the hosts with a drag-flick. Sanjay scored his third goal as he converted another PC in the match. With that treble, India rounded up a memorable night in Odisha.

Man of the match Hundal later said: “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.”

Early in the morning, Argentina got their campaign off to a flying start when they netted 14 times against a determined but error-prone Egypt.

Coach Lucas Rey 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.”

NNN