India fails to make to the quarter-finals of the Junior Hockey World Cup after they drew their last pool match to South Korea 3-3. India, who were in full control of the game in the first half scored two goals, both by Gurjinder Singh through Penalty Corner. The game was lost somewhere in the last 10 minutes when Korea scored two back to back goals in quick succession.
“The team had not prepared for this. The team really wanted to do so well in this tournament,” said visibly disappointed Indian coach Gregg Clark.
“We have lessons learnt in terms of individual players,” he added.
About Sushant Tirkey, who was made to play for the first time in this World Cup, Gregg said, “We had decided to play him from the beginning. But, Korea had their best Penalty Corner specialist who scored all the three goals for them.”
India has now finished third in Pool C. They will next play against Argentina for the final standings.
For Korea, they are into the quarter-finals along with Netherlands from Pool C.