K. ARUMUGAM

India didn’t have things their way in a 4-2 win over South Korea in their opening outing of the 2023 FIH Men’s Junior World Cup Hockey at the Bukit Jalil stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday.

Playing in Pool C, India were 3-0 ahead at halftime after running their Asian rivals ragged for much of the half.

Araijeet Hundal did the star turn with a treble strike (11’, 16’, 41’) while Amandeep (30’) scored the other goal for India. Korea who lifted their game after the change of ends found the net through Lim Dohyun (38’) and Kim Minkwon (45’).

Araijeet opened the scoring, following up at a penalty corner after exchanging passes with captain Singh.

Fine work by Boby on the right baseline set up Araijeet to scoop into the roof of the net to make it 2-0 and India were three to the good when Amandeep scored a rare field goal with a reverse stick shot into the Korean net that stood the test of a referral on the dot of halftime.

Korea kept their hopes alive with a fluent drag flick by Dohyun early in the second half but Araijeet made it 4-1 with an angular reverse hit after the goalkeeper saved.

Korean heads, however, didn’t go down and a flurry of penalty corners followed with Minkwon banging home with a reverse hit after goalkeeper Mohith saved.

Both sides looked good enough for a goal as the minutes ticked away. Korea, beaten 1-9 by India in the Junior Asia Cup earlier this year, will rue the failure to finish as they pressed for the third goal while India will want greater sharpness up front ahead of a crucial encounter on Thursday against Spain who routed Canada 7-0.

“We had only 15 days preparation. We lost  by a big margin (0-9) in the last Junior Asia Cup but scored two goals against India. We are improving” said South Korean coach Hyeuk Im Bong in the post match briefing.

Hyeuk took over the Korean colts four months ago. Hyek, a University level player, feels his team has a target of reaching the final here.

Other results:

Pool A: Argentina 1 Australia 0

Pool B: Germany 5 South Africa 3, France 3 Egypt 1

Pool C: Spain 7 Canada 0, India 4 S. Korea 2