Following their title success at the 2016 Men’s Junior World Cup in Lucknow, reigning champions and competition hosts India have set their ...
Following their title success at the 2016 Men’s Junior World Cup in Lucknow, reigning champions and competition hosts India have set their sights on retaining their crown at the sport’s central locale in the country: Bhubaneswar’s magnificent Kalinga Stadium.
The Indian team led by Vivek Sagar Prasad will take on France in the final fixture on the opening day. In other matches on Wednesday, Belgium will play South Africa, Malaysia will face Chile, Germany will take on Pakistan and Canada will lock horns against Poland
India’s victory in Lucknow – their second Junior World Cup title, adding to the one claimed at the 2001 competition in Hobart, Australia – was a remarkable upturn in form, with the team having only managed a 10th place finish at the 2013 competition in New Delhi.
Indeed, 2021 has been a memorable year for Indian hockey, with the men’s team ending a 41-year wait for an Olympic Games medal at Tokyo 2020 while the women’s team made a sensational run till the semifinals and eventually finishing fourth.
The senior men’s side contained a number of players from the batch of 2016 and success in Bhubaneswar would only serve to reinforce India’s recent upturn in the sport they have historically dominated.
