Challenger Trophy Ignites Classification Rounds Of Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup

Challenger Trophy ignites classification rounds of Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup (Image Source: IANS)

Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu: The FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025 entered the classification rounds for the 9-16 and 17-24 positions on Thursday in Madurai and Chennai after a day’s break, with teams producing some interesting results.

The teams missing out on the quarterfinals are now vying for the best possible finish, with the best-placed team in the 17-24 bracket also receiving the Challenger Trophy, an initiative from FIH President Tayyab Ikram. The day saw exciting hockey across eight matches in Madurai and Chennai, including the tournament’s first shootout, a historic win for Bangladesh, and a tough grind for Australia.

Namibia hold Austria

The opening match for the 17th to 24th classification positions produced the first shootout of the tournament, which saw Austria score two goals to Namibia’s none and take home a win after the regulation time of 60 minutes ended at 2-2 in Madurai.

All four goals were scored in the second half, as Namibia broke the deadlock in the 40th minute with John-Paul Britz’s penalty-corner strike. The next five minutes saw the game swinging like a pendulum. Austria equalised in the 42nd minute through Benedikt Meisel. The very next minute, Britz scored again off a PC to put Namibia ahead 2-1, but Austria closed the third quarter by making it 2-2, thanks to Julian Kaiser converting a PC.

The last quarter didn’t produce any goals, and the match progressed to a tie-breaking shootout, the FIH said in a round-up of Thursday's action.

Namibia’s one-on-one skills produced four disappointing failures, as Abraham Graham, Josh van der Merwe, James de Jager, and Mathew Lassen failed to go past Austrian goalkeeper Lorenz Breitenecker. The two conversions for Austria by Meisel and Andor Losonci, thus, proved enough to confirm victory.

“I had to keep the ball outside my goal. I specialise in shootouts. I don’t know what else to say. I am really happy about it,” said Austria’s custodian and shootout star Brietenecker. “We are really motivated for the Challenger Trophy and want to give our best.”

Bangladesh beat Oman 13-0

Bangladesh outplayed Oman in Madurai, producing 13 goals to register a comprehensive and historic first win, courtesy of a penalty-corner masterclass produced by Amirul Islam, who scored five goals. Rakibul Hasan too scored a hat-trick, hitting three field goals.

The Oman defence was left to fend off a flurry of Bangladeshi attacks that produced five more goals off the sticks of Mohammad Abdullah and Mohammad Saju, both of whom scored a brace, while Obidul Joy struck once.

“Winning is always good. That’s why we play hockey, to win. I think we progressed with every match,” said Bangladesh coach Siegfried Aikman. “Our target is to improve match by match and play the best hockey we can. We were in a tough pool, but that gave us an opportunity to play at a level that we have never played at. This World Cup, with 24 teams, is a blessing for teams like us. Now we know where we have to improve.”

England overcome Chile 3-1

Disappointed to not be among the quarterfinalists, England began their classification-round (9-16 place) journey with a 3-1 win over Chile at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai.

The English team got themselves into a comfortable position by the 19th minute, scoring two goals -- produced by Kaden Draysey and Max Anderson. The second quarter witnessed two more goals, with Chile cutting England’s lead to 2-1 when Javier Vargas got on the scoresheet in the 23rd minute. But Jonny Sturch-Hibbitt’s goal four minutes later restored England’s two-goal advantage at 3-1.

The last two quarters saw some shoddy finishing, especially by England, leaving the second half of the match devoid of any goals.

“It was a good (game). We needed to come out with good energy, and the boys did well to get over the line. Looking forward to the next game, and we’ll try to win every game from here,” said England’s Cole Pidcock. Looking back at the pool stage, he added, “We had a first game against Holland, probably one of the better teams here. We played really well; in fact, I think we played well the entire tournament.”

Korea beat Egypt 6-3

After struggling to hit their stride in the pool stage, Korea defeated Egypt 6-3 in Madurai on Thursday.

Minhyeok Lee stole the thunder with four goals – three off penalty corners and one off a penalty stroke. Korea led 3-1 at half-time. After Egypt scored the first goal of the match in the 8th minute through Basel Abdelmonem on a penalty corner, the Koreans levelled it up with Lee’s first goal in the 18th minute. Soon after, in the second quarter, JeongSeob Song and Seowon Park also found the mark to make it 3-1.

Lee increased that lead to 4-1 just two minutes into the third quarter, but Egypt and Abdelmonem’s second goal pulled it back. In the final quarter, Lee scored his third and fourth goals in the 50th and 52nd minutes to place Korea comfortably ahead at 6-2. Egypt scored their third goal through Mohamed Ghanem, but it only came in the final minute of the match.

Speaking after the match, Korea’s captain Seunghan Son said, “I think we had a good start and did well to lead 3-1 at half-time. Then we scored three more goals and had a good time.”

South Africa vs Malaysia (Full-Time Score: 3-1)

Jaydon Brooker’s brace led South Africa’s fighting 3-1 win over Malaysia, after the match in Chennai opened with a goalless first quarter.

Brooker ended the stalemate in the 18th minute off a penalty corner to take South Africa to half-time leading narrowly at 1-0. Nine minutes into the third quarter, he converted another PC to put his side ahead 2-0.

Malaysia fought back in the third quarter, when a 48th-minute goal by Aqil Mat reduced South Africa’s lead to 2-1. But the game was put to bed by Ross Montgomery, who got the South Africans their third goal on a penalty corner with just over two minutes left on the clock.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to win, obviously. We couldn’t qualify for the top eight, but I think we are a team that could be there and should be there,” said South Africa’s Ozair Pillai. “We told ourselves that this was our quarter-final. So we are still taking it very seriously. Malaysia is a top side; they do a lot of running, a lot of counter-attacking. We take this (classification rounds) as the ‘plate’ section, the start of a new tournament, knockout hockey, as they say. Hopefully, we can take it (Challenger Trophy) home.”

China edge Canada 3-2

China registered a brilliant rally to overcome a two-goal deficit and beat Canada 3-2 in Madurai on Thursday, with Wang Yubo’s double strike leading the fightback and eventual victory.

Just when it looked like Robin Thind’s 8th and 16th-minute goals had put Canada on the way to their first win of the tournament, Yubo’s penalty-corner skills first reduced the margin in the 25th minute and then brought China level at 2-2 late in the match in the 56th minute.

With the Canadian defence switched off at the end of the game, possibly in expectation of a shoot-out, China’s Ning Dongjun found the winning goal in the 60th minute to steal victory. “Thanks to our team’s coordination that helped us win the game,” said Player-of-the-Match Yubo, as translated by a Chinese team official.

Switzerland go down to Ireland 2-5

The Irish team came up with a spirited show on the first day of the classification rounds to beat Switzerland 5-2 at Chennai’s Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium.

Gregory Williams featured at the top of the list of goal scorers for Ireland after the match looked evenly poised at 1-1 at half-time, thanks to Samuel Dale putting Ireland ahead in the 25th minute and Louis Thijs equalising for the Swiss in the 30th minute following a goalless first quarter.

Three penalty-corner strikes in the third quarter – two by Williams and one by Rex Dunlop – gave Ireland a comfortable 4-1 lead at the end of the third quarter. Switzerland gave itself a chance when Jens Fluck made it 4-2 with still 10 minutes remaining in the match. However, Ireland sealed victory at 5-2 with a 60th-minute goal off a penalty corner from Louis Rowe.

“It feels great to put in a good performance and score five goals, but we need to be more clinical. We were leading 1-0, and then we let Switzerland back into the game. So just need to be more clinical and ruthless,” said Ireland’s James Clark. “We decided to take this as the second half of the tournament (after failing to qualify for the quarter-finals), and we are aiming for gold in this one.”

Australia beat Japan 1-0

“It feels great to put in a good performance and score five goals, but we need to be more clinical. We were leading 1-0, and then we let Switzerland back into the game. So just need to be more clinical and ruthless,” said Ireland’s James Clark. “We decided to take this as the second half of the tournament (after failing to qualify for the quarter-finals), and we are aiming for gold in this one.”

In a game that turned into a who-blinks-first match, Australia and Japan failed to convert the chances they created, and Grobbelaar’s 56-minute penalty-corner goal proved to be the difference.

Article Source: IANS