Junior hockey: Indian men defeat hosts Spain and women go down 1-2 against Germany

Valencia, Spain 28 October 2016: India’s Junior Men Hockey team beat the hosts Spain 3-1 in their match at the 4-Nations Invitational tournament yesterday. The result saw India top of the table after the round-robin stages.
India were the dominant team from the start and were applying pressure and pushing the hosts on the defensive from the starting hooter. They won their first PC in the 5th minute and Parvinder Singh’s conversion gave them a 1-0 lead.

Spain clawed their way back with a PC conversion of their own in the 16th minute, by Gerard Garcia.
India kept their attacking intent alive though and kept on the offensive throughout the half. They won a host of PCs, midway through the half, but Alberto Carnicer in Spain’s goal denied them the lead.

Just before halftime though Nilakanta Sharma put them in the lead with a superbly taken goal in the 30th minute.
Spain came out of halftime more organised at the back and were soon making incursions into the Indian defence right at the start of the second half. A swift counter attack by India in the 41st minute, finished by Armaan Qureshi, effectively killed off the game though, as India held on for a 3-1 win.

At the 5-Nations Invitational Tournament, India’s Junior Women team went down 2-1 to Germany in a hard-fought encounter.

Elisia Grave opened the scoring in the 25th minute via a PC conversion. In the final minute of the half, India launched a superb attacking move, with swift movement, that culminated with Jyoti Gupta putting the ball in the back of the net to draw them level as they went into the break.

Julia Meffert gave Germany the lead in the 58th minute via another PC conversion and despite India’s sustained pressure and possession play, Germany held on for a narrow victory.

India’s Junior Men Hockey Team play the hosts, Spain in the semi-final of the 4-Nations Invitational Tournament at 1630 hours IST on 29th October 2016.

India’s Junior Women Hockey Team play Belgium at the 5-Nations Invitational Tournament, at 2030 hours IST on 29th October 2016.