India up for Belgium challenge in quarters

BHUBANESWAR: Having finished second in their preliminary round group following a defeat to France in their opening match, defending champions India take on top contender Belgium in the quarter-finals of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's Junior World Cup here on Wednesday in a match that could make or break their fortunes in the event. Victory will take them into the semi-finals while defeat would bring to a premature end their defence of the title India won at home in 2016.

Belgium are ranked first in the World in Junior Rankings while India are fifth, the Red Devils are unbeaten so far in this event though being held to a draw by Malaysia is a blemish they have to carry into the match against India. India on the other hand have recovered well after the 4-5 defeat against France to comprehensively beat Canada (13-1) and Poland (8-2).

And India will have to take on this challenge without key midfielder Maninder Singh, who suffered a hamstring injury during the match against Poland and has not yet recovered from that. Coach Reid said Bobby Singh will replace him with Bobby Singh, who will have to manage the midfield with skipper Vivek Sagar Prasad.

A strong and aggressive forward-line and abundant drag flickers have turned out to be the aces up the sleeves of the Indian team. Araijeet Singh Hundal and Uttam Singh have been India's most successful forwards in the event so far with five and four goals respectively. Hundal has scored both field goals and off penalty corners and India will depend on him and defender Sanjay to do the bulk of the scoring. Sharda Nand Tiwari is another one who has been successful with his penalty corners.

The Indians will have to guard against conceding early goals as they did against France and ensure that they defend deep and don't allow Belgium to take control of the midfield.

Coach Reid accepted that his boys will have to be calm and composed during the entire match and should play with discipline and not get too many cards as they did against Poland.

India does have an edge in head-to-head, having won four of the five matches against Belgium in the U-21 stage.

In other quarter-final matches on Wednesday, six-time champions Germany take on European rivals Spain, the Netherlands, looking to win their first title in the Junior World Cup, meet Argentina while France face Malaysia in third quarter-final. IANS

Also Read: With eye on title, Indian women leave for Korea

Also Watch: