The opening day of the Junior Hockey World Cup saw a major upset as France defeated reigning champions and hosts India in a 5-4 thriller. Germany, Belgium, Poland and Malaysia have all claimed important wins on the opening day of the Junior Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneshwar. But it was France’s 5-4 win which caught all the headlines.
They dominated the Blue Colts right from the start as French captain Timothée Clément had tremendous influence in helping his team win against the reigning champions. Clement combined with Benjamin Marque to hand France a 2-0 lead within the first seven minutes. But India came back into the game after a slow start as Uttam Singh and Sanjay netted the goals and restored parity after the first quarter.
Clement scored two penalty corner goals on either sides of the halftime to hand France a massive 4-2 lead. He also came up with a great goal-line clearance stopping India to score from a penalty corner. It was Corentin Sellier who piled up the misery and more or less sealed the win with only 12 minutes left to go int he game. However Sanjay had other ideas as he tried his best and pulled back two goals but could not turn the tables for the Blue Colts. The young French team held the Indians to a famous win and started the Junior Hockey World Cup on a very positive note.
“We won as a team, not as a single person, we won together. It is incredible, and I am very happy for the team. To start the competition [in this way] is perfect. We must continue and win the other games because the competition is very long. It is not finished,” said Clément after the game.
In other games Belgium junior team dominated their first game against South Africa as they won 5-1 to start the tournament. German on the other hand, cruised to a 5-2 win over Pakistan in thei campaign opener in Bhubaneshwar. Poland rode on Eryk Bembenek’s sole penalty corner goal edged Canada in a 1-0 gritty win. Lastly Malaysia came up with two brilliantly executed penalty corner goals to overcome a strong challenge from Chile. Malaysia defeated Chile by a 2-1 scoreline in a very tight contest.
