Junior women’s hockey WC: India bow out; Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Germany qualify for QF

Santiago: FIH Junior Women’s World Cup, Day 4 has decided the fate of a few teams as India and South Africa bowed out the competition while while four other teams from Pool A and C — the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, and Germany — secured their places in the Top 8.

Belgium secured a last-gasp 3-2 victory over India in a thrilling contest to top the table in Pool C, while Germany recorded a big win over Canada to seal the second place in Pool C.

In Pool A, Australia and Netherlands who had almost cemented their place in the quarterfinals made sure that they finished on a high defeating South Africa and Chile by big margins.

All these four teams have secured their places in the quarterfinals while the teams finishing third and fourth in their respective pools will have to play the classification matches for the 9th to 16th place.

In the first match of the day on Saturday night, India and Belgium engaged in a nail-biter. Noa Schreurs opened the scoring for Belgium in the 5th minute via a field goal. It was then an evenly contested game with both teams trying to create scoring opportunities.

France De Mot scored another goal for Belgium doubling up their lead, but it was then India’s star player in this competition, Annu, who got back India into the game with a brace within five minutes. However, a winning goal from Astrid Bonami in the 52nd minute dashed India’s hopes of finishing on top of Pool C.

It was a goal fest in the second match of the day as Germany beat Canada 8-0. Laura Pluth and skipper Lilly Stoffelsma both scored hat-tricks, while Katharina Haid and Joana Boehringer netted one each.

Germany dominated the entire match as they earned 14 penalty corners and penetrated into the opponents circle a plethora of times. With this win, Germany finished second, below Belgium in Pool C while Canada finished at the bottom with zero wins out of three.

Australia finished with two wins and a loss in the pool stages as they beat South Africa 4-0 in a lop-sided affair in their last league match of the World Cup. It was Makayla Jones who opened the scoring for the Aussies with a sharp finish in the 4th minute.

Australia got 11 penalty corners but were only able to convert one, thanks to the brilliance of South African custodian Morgan De Jager. With three loses in three matches, South Africa finished at the bottom of Pool A.

It was a similar match between Netherlands vs Chile as one of the world’s most feared sides in women’s hockey, Netherlands, blanked the hosts 7-0. They were on song from the word go, scoring three goals in the first ten minutes.

The Netherlands finished on the top of the Pool A, and qualified for the quarterfinals along with Australia, while South Africa and Chile will complete in the 9th-16th place qualification matches.

–IANS