India to take on Spain, eye podium finish: FIH Hockey Junior World Cup 2023

FIH Hockey Junior World Cup 2023: When the Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team plays Spain for the second time in the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Malaysia 2023 on Saturday, December 16 in the third/4th place match, they will try to move past the disappointment of their Semi-Final loss to Germany. Despite trailing 0–2 at the half, the Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team rallied to defeat the Netherlands 4–3 in the Quarterfinals, capping an impressive run in the tournament. They defeated Korea 4-2 in their opening Pool C match of the competition. They then lost 1-4 to Spain before defeating Canada 10-1 in their last group stage encounter.

‘India has faced Spain eight times’

Notably, in the history of the Men’s Junior World Cup, India has faced Spain eight times. In five of those encounters, India has lost, with Spain winning the most recent match. When India plays Spain for the Bronze medal, they hope to correct the record following their defeat by Germany in the Semi-Finals. Uttam Singh, the captain of the Indian Junior Men’s Team, stated, “We have to move on from the loss even though it is disappointing that we aren’t in the final. We’re going to concentrate on trying to win that game because we have one more to play.”

“We really would’ve loved to have been playing in the final. Right now we just have to focus on what lies ahead of us,” Coach C R Kumar stated in the interim. We’ll play the best hockey we can because placing third in a World Cup also garners a lot of respect.” In the third-fourth place playoff match, India will play Spain on Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 15:30 IST. Germany and France will compete in the tournament final on December 16. The games will be live-streamed on JioCinema and televised on Viacom Sports 18 – 3 and Sports 18 – 1 HD.