Chennai. India has entered the semi-finals of the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup 2025 by defeating Belgium 2-2 (4-3 shootout) in the quarter-finals. India won the shootout. Now Team India will face seven-time champion Germany on December 7. Belgium opened its account in the 13th minute of the match with a field goal by Gaspard Cornez-Massant, which gave them a great start. India was on the back foot at the very beginning of the game. In the next quarter, Belgium created a brilliant defensive structure which prevented India from scoring. But in the third quarter, Team India returned with new enthusiasm. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Princedeep Singh looked in full spirits as he made some brilliant saves. Meanwhile, a glimpse of team coach PR Sreejesh was visible in him.
India opened its account in the 45th minute. Rohit converted the penalty corner into a goal and tied India at 1-1 in the match.
In the 48th minute, Sharda Nand Tiwari converted another penalty corner to put India ahead 2-1. After this goal, the fans present in the stadium went into celebration, but this celebration could not last long. In the 59th minute, Belgium equalized the match with a goal from Nathan Rogge. After this the match reached shootout.
Princedeep Singh was most important for India in defence, while Sharda Nand Tiwari scored three goals in the shootout.
Princedeep Singh was the hero of the match with some brilliant saves in the shootout. Sharda Nand Tiwari also stood firm in India’s shootout, her tremendous penalty strokes kept India in the contest. He scored three times, while Ankit Pal scored the winning goal for India, making the score 4–3 in a tense shootout.
Expressing happiness over this win, Princedeep said, “I have learned a lot from coach Sreejesh. Seeing him and learning from him has boosted my confidence. It was a great match. We got tremendous support from the audience in Chennai.”
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