Junior World Cup Flash Back
Part I
For long field hockey had been time-warped with the mindset against going competitive. Other than Olympics, the FIH had no competitions under its belt in its firs 50years of existence. This mindset was broken at last with the Asian lobby, and the World Cup was put in place in the early 70s.
Junior World Cup, the inaugural edition of which was staged in 1979, therefore was a natural corollary of the mutational mindset of early 70s.
Junior World Cup came into being barely six months after Champions Trophy had been conceived and put on turf in Karachi, Pakistan.
Coming a year before the crucial Moscow Olympic Games, countries availed the opportunity to test their junior wares.
France was not force with to reckon on the turfs, at least major part of the hockey’s competitive history, but is strong in the question of administration. The first FIH president was a Frenchman, is suffice to prove this.
This country had the privilege of hosting the first Junior World Cup.
French Hockey Federation not only staged the first Junior World Cup, but also presented the winners trophy, then known as The Roger Danet Challenge Cup, to immortalize its most famous former president.
Danet was once the head of Racing Club de France, where three natural grass ground were made available for the FIH to run its biggest Junior category show.
Five European teams, four from Asia/Oceania, two from Pan America and a token team from African continent formed the field.
However, in tune with the trend of those days, its Pakistan that won the honours after the cruelling ten days.
This is the Pakistan’s route to Gold at Versailles, France.
Defeat Ireland 6-0
Defeat Singapore 5-0
Defeat Argentina 5-1
Defeat Germany 4-1
Defeat Ghana 3-0
Defeat Malaysia 4-2 in the semis
Defeat Germany 2-0 in the final.