Argentina wins Junior Hockey World Cup title, India finish fourth

The hosts failed to defend the title in front of the home crowd.

France captain Timothée Clément netted his fourth hat-trick in six matches at the FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup 2021 in Bhubaneswar, firing his team to the bronze medal with a 3-1 win over host nation India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDJ4pfa6E68

The home side dominated the early stages and even managed to hit the post, but France grew into the contest and edged ahead four minutes before halftime thanks to Clément’s superb penalty corner drag-flick. Clément netted another penalty corner early in the third quarter, but India hit back through Sudeep Chirmako’s brilliant reverse scooped finish to leave give his team hope in the latter stages.

It was Clément however, who would have the final say, with his deflected fourth-quarter penalty corner effort completing his personal treble and securing a superb bronze medal at the Junior Hockey World Cup for this hugely gifted young French team.

France captain Timothée Clément remarked, “What an emotion! Two days ago, it was very difficult to lose in the semi-final. It was very important to finish like this. We have a bronze medal. It’s just amazing! And this team is perfect. Wow! We are very happy for French hockey. The future generation is here and I think we have a really, really great future!”

India’s Vivek Sagar Prasad said: “It was a really good match, a very close one. Congratulations to the French team! We are very disappointed. As players, we will all work to improve in the future.”

Argentina lift the World Cup title

Lautaro Domene scored a hat-trick of penalty corners to help Argentina become Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup champions for the second time in their history, beating Germany 4-2 in a superb competition final in Bhubaneswar.

Domene’s achievement was made more remarkable by the fact that Argentina won just three penalty corners in the entire match, with the drag-flicker finishing with a 100 percent conversion rate as his team added a second men’s Junior World Cup title to the one claimed in Rotterdam in 2005.

The result ended Germany’s quest for a seventh Men's Junior Hockey World Cup title and brought the curtain down on a superb competition at the Kalinga Stadium.

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