Quick off the blocks: Manmeet’s two early goals put India in a comfortable position.
| Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
India blanked Switzerland 5-0 in a contest between two unbeaten teams of the FIH Junior Men’s World Cup 2025 here to secure the Pool-B top spot.
With nine points after three matches, head coach P.R. Sreejesh’s side also secured passage to the quarterfinals.
Manmeet Singh sent the packed crowd at the Madurai International Hockey Stadium into raptures, opening the scoring within two minutes after a botched clearance from the Swiss defence.
Manmeet scored his second with a deflection on the half turn, off a fast ground pass from Priyobarta Talem.
Sharda Nand Tiwari converted a penalty corner to ensure the Blue Colts went into the second quarter comfortably in the lead.
With willing runners across the baseline, the defence attempted intermittent scooped passes, but the tactic failed to materialise. Arshdeep Singh got onto the scoresheet late in the second period via a reverse hit with his back facing the goal to extend India’s lead.
Arshdeep Singh scored late in the second period.
| Photo Credit:
G. MOORTHY
Switzerland came out after the half-time break with renewed intensity.
Princedeep shines
Goalkeeper Princedeep Singh was called into action, first with a strong kick and then with a full-length dive to push the ball away with his stick.
The custodian capped a strong quarter with a stunning penalty stroke save against Yannick Hug.
The final fifteen minutes of play turned out to be a physical affair, and with the home side not at its fluent best, the door was open for an improbable comeback.
That hope was extinguished when Sharda Nand found the bottom left corner with his second PC goal of the day, sealing a 5-0 win.
Belgium challenge next
Awaiting India in the final eight will be a Belgium side that scraped through as one of the best second-placed teams.
Earlier, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands advanced with dominant wins in their final league-stage encounters.
The results: In Madurai: Pool-D: Spain 13 (Bruno Avila 5, 23, 47 & 58, Andres Medina 7 & 27, Albert Serrahima 15, Nicolas Mustaros 37, Ton Moran 41, Josep Martin 44 & 59, Aleix Bozal 54, Pere Amat 55) bt Namibia 0; Belgium 10 (Lucas Balthazar 4 & 23, Maximilian Langer 18, 25 & 59, Benjamin Thiery 28, Mathias Francois 33, Jean Cloetens 50, Hugo Labouchere 53, Marin van Heel 56) bt Egypt 0.
Pool-E: Netherlands 11 (Finn van Bijnen 21 & 35, Casper Hafkamp 27, Joppe Wolbert 31, Thies Bakker 36, Jens de Vuijst 39, Casper van der Veen 48, 53 & 54, Pepijn van der Valk 49, Jan van ‘t Land 56) bt Austria 0; England 3 (Henry Markham 4, Michael Royden 36, Alex Chihota 57) bt Malaysia 1 (Azimuddin Kamaruddin 47).
Pool-B: India 5 (Manmeet Singh 2 & 11, Sharda Nand Tiwari 13 & 54, Arshdeep Singh 28) bt Switzerland 0.
In Chennai:
Pool-F: France 3 (Tom Gaillard 6, Gabin Lorrazuri 31, James Liddiard 37) bt Bangladesh 2 (Md. Abdullah 27, Amirul Islam 54); Australia 3 (Duncan Jackson 16, Ian Grobbelaar 34, Daykin Stanger 52) bt South Korea 1 (Seunghan Son 20).
Published – December 02, 2025 10:48 pm IST
