India hammer Poland to reach Men's Junior Hockey World Cup quarters

The Indian Colts will now play against Belgium.

The reigning champions and host nation India overcame a determined and challenging Poland to book their place in the quarter-finals of the FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup 2021. Despite a scoreline of 8-2, India earned a number of yellow cards in the second half that may concern head coach Graham Reid.

Sanjay and Hundal Araijeet Singh continued their fine form by netting a brace each. Sudeep scored twice in a one-sided match. Uttam Singh and Shardanand Singh also registered their names on the scoresheet in a dominant victory over Poland.

https://youtu.be/MTn1Htjvu40

The Indian team showed good attacking intent right from the start of the match as the sparse crowd at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha was treated to yet another goal-fest. Sanjay, who has enjoyed a fine competition so far, opened the scoring in the fourth minute and from there on the hosts dominated the whole match. Sanjay increased his goal tally at the FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup in the 58th minute.

Sudeep got the 'Player of the Match' award for his incredible performance in the match. For Poland, they will be left rueing a number of missed chances, something their captain Gracjan Jarzynski emphasised in the post-match interview. He remarked, “The problem for our team is scoring from penalty corners, we should have scored more goals. We made simple mistakes in defence, but we also made lots of opportunities to score."

“Now we have two days which gives us time to look at penalty corners and improve things. We have time to prepare and train for the next match against Chile. We will try to surprise them.”

'Player of the Match' Sudeep Chirmako remarked, “This was an important match for us because we had lost one match but we executed well today. Regarding the quarter-finals [against Belgium], it is very important as it is elimination. But we have a plan and we will try to execute it.”

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