Chennai: Defending champions Germany continued their reign in the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup, beating Spain 3-2 in the shoot-out after the two teams ended tied 1-1 in regulation in the final played at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.
Thus, Germany, in their 10th appearance in the final, won their eighth title as they won their eighth title in the 13-day event, which began on November 28 and was held in Chennai and Madurai as the two host cities, concluded with a fitting finale that was decided in a shootout. Germany took the lead in the final after scoring through Justus Warweg in the 26th minute via a field goal. However, Spain levelled the scores in the 33rd minute with Nicolas Mustaros sounding the board.
In the shoot-out, Germany missed the first two tries before scoring the last three. Spain took a 1-0 lead when Pablo Roman scored off the second attempt after they missed their first try. In the remaining three tries, Aleix Bozal and Andrés Medina failed, and Spain suffered a heartbreak.
Germany extended their record of Men’s Junior World Cup title wins to eight, riding on their rising star Jasper Ditzer’s goalkeeping skills.
Earlier, India defeated Argentina 4-2 to win the bronze medal for the first time, adding to the two gold and one silver medals. IANS