The FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025 saw the calssification matches for positions 9-16 and 17-24 on Day 8 of action with England and Ireland setting up an enticing 9-10 place playoff, while it will be Bangladesh taking on Austria in the battle for 17th place and the newly-instituted Challenger Trophy, an initiative from FIH President Tayyab Ikram!
Take a look at how the ball rolled on Day 8 at the two host cities – Chennai and Madurai.
Namibia vs Canada (Full-Time Score: 1-3)
Canada, playing Namibia for the 21/24 positions, registered their first win of the tournament on Saturday with a 3-1 margin in Madurai.
The intensity of the game and the teams’ desperation to win kept the umpires on their toes – forcing theon-field officialsto show a yellow card to three Canadian players and one from Namibia.
Leighton De Souza put Canada ahead in the 14thminute and served a two-minute suspension later in thesecondquarter after getting a green card.For most ofthe next two quarters, none of the teams could meaningfully penetrate the opposition’s defence, while things got heated up.
Namibia’s John Paul-Britz was the first to receive a yellow card just before the half-time hooter, and as the intensity picked up in the second half, Canada’s Paramveer Basra (42nd) and Gavin Thind (52nd) too were penalized for yellow-card offences.
De Souza completed a brace with his penalty-corner strike in the 54thminutebuta minute later Britz cut Canada’s lead to 2-1. Ravpreet Gill became the third Canadian to receive a yellow card but coming in the 60thminute, it didn’t hurt Canada. In fact,RobinThind scored Canada’s third goal in the final minute to seal the win at 3-1.
“I am just really proud of the boys…We showed a lot of character to concede that late goal and still push back to get that win. Happy for that and the work we put in. We’ll try to get another win in two days’ time and finish the tournament with two wins,” saidCanada’s coach Geoff Matthews. “We have had some really good performances, just haven’t been able to get over the line. Like I said, it’s a fairly young group but we have done well. I think we have adapted quite well to the environment.”
Oman vs Egypt (Full-Time Score: 2-8)
Riding on two goals each from Abdelrahman Kasem and Mohamed Ghanem, Egypt defeated Oman 8-2 in their classification match for the 21/24 positions to bag their first win of the tournament in five matches.
The goal-fest started with two penalty-corner strikes–byBasel Abdelmonem in the 10thminute and Ahmed Fahmy in the 14th–togive Egypt a 2-0 lead in the first quarter. Three field goals in the second quarter, which included Abdelrahman’s brace and a strike by Mohab Hegab, swelled Egypt’s lead to 5-0 at half-time.
Oman scored their first goal after the break when Alhussin Al Hasni struck off a penalty corner. But Egypt remained in an attacking mode to pump in the goals as Youssef Hussein (44th) and Ghanem (46th) made it 7-1.
Al Hasni found another goal for himself and Oman in the 57thminute, but it remained consolatory as Ghanem once again breached the Oman post in the penultimate minute for an 8-2 scoreline.
“This is our first win of the tournament. There was a lot of pressure on the players as all of them wanted to win. All the players in our team are under-18. So, it’s a good experience for them,” said Egypt coach Mohammed Bait Jandal, as translated by the team manager.
Chile vs Japan (Full-Time Score: 1-3)
Japan came back from their fighting loss against Australia in their first classification-round match to beat Chile 3-1 in the 13/16-place playoffs.
Yuma Fujiwara starred for the Japanese with a double strike, including the opening goal of the match in the 24thminute that remained the only goal-scoring moment in the first two quarters. Chile equalised four minutes into the third quarter for 1-1 through Santiago Pizarro.
Fujiwara restored Japan’s one-goal advantage in the 43rdminute and Naru Kimura added a cushion for a 3-1 lead in the 48thminute that turned out to be the decisive action of the match in Chennai.
“We are really happy. It was a good game, especially our counter-attacks. We want to improve our attacking positions,” said Japan coach Yoshihiro Anai.
Austria vs China [Full-Time Score: 1 (3 SO) – 1 (1) China]
The 17/20-place encounter between Austria and China was decided by a shootout, with the former sealing a 3-1 win following 1-1 draw at the end of 60 minutes in Madurai.
Both the goals during the regulation time came in the second half, with China scoring first in the 31stminute through Sun Jingran and Austria fighting back to equalise late in the fourth quarter (56thminute) with Benjamin Kelner’s goal to force a shootout.
The one-on-one tie-breaker turned into a sorry affair for China, as the Austrian goalkeeper Lorenz Breitenecker put up a strong defence to deny three Chinese attackers, while Ning Dongjun was the lone scorer. For Austria, Maximilian Meisel, Benedikt Meisel and Adrian Fink went past China’s custodian Zhang Pengyang.
Analysing the game, Austria captain Mateusz Nyckowiak said: “I think we have the best goalkeeper in Lorenz Breitenecker when it comes to shootouts. He is doing a very good job. Not only the shootout, he made saves in the whole game. China had some very good chances, but we stayed strong till the end and scored the equaliser. We deserved to win.”
Malaysia vs Switzerland (Full-Time Score: 7-3)
Malaysia’s second win of the tournament came after a long wait since their only pool-stage victory on November 29, as they blunted the Swiss challenge to register an impressive 7-3 triumph in the 13/16 classification match.
Aqil Mat led the scoring chart for Malaysia with a brace, starting with his team’s first goal in the 5thminute. They led 4-1 at half-time, with the other three goals in the first two quarters coming off the sticks of Handzalah Hadi, Harris Osman and Rahuul M. Max Fischbach pulled one back for Switzerland.
Leonard Kraxner fuelled Swiss hopes of a comeback with his team’s second goal two minute into the third quarter, but Malaysia dashed those hopes with three more blows as Azimuddin Kamaruddin, Aqil Mat and Danish Khairil continued the goal-scoring spree.
Yannick Hug scored Switzerland’s third goal but it proved too big a gap to bridge in the end.
“We played as a team and converted our chances in front of the goal. The players played according to the structure and gave their best,” said Malaysia captain Danish Khairil.
Bangladesh vs Korea (Full-Time Score: 5-3)
Bangladesh continued to build on their reputation in this tournament after a fighting show in the pool stage, winning their second classification game (17/20 place) in a row to go past Korea 5-3 after being 0-2 down at the start. Interestingly it was the second meeting of the tournament for the two Asian nations, with their pool match ending in a 3-3 draw.
Bangladesh’s penalty-corner expert Amirul Islam once again stood out with his hat-trick, while the in-form Minhyeok Lee did his best, responding with a hat-trick as well; but the Koreans fell short in the end.
Obidul Joy’s 52ndminute goal gave Bangladesh the much needed breathing space at 4-2 after Amirul’s three goals had turned the tables on the Koreans. But Lee’s hat-trick goal set up an exciting finish, as Korea trailed 4-3 with seven minutes on the clock.
After some end-to-end action, Rakibul Hasan struck in the last minute to ensure Bangladesh’s 5-3 victory.
“This is a great victory. We had trouble against them in the pool (game). Again we bounced back after being down two goals. I think we played a perfect match,” said Bangladesh coach Seigfried Aikman. “Playing for the Challenger Trophy means a lot as it gives us the possibility of winning a title.”
England vs Australia (Full-Time Score: 3-1)
The 9/12-place contest between Australia and England, two evenly matched teams trying to overcome their disappointment of missing out on the quarterfinals, went the English way at 3-1.
After Kaden Draysey’s penalty-corner conversion in the 8thminute for England, the two sides fortified their defence as the match had to wait for another 35 minutes for another goal. Just before the end of third quarter, Kade Leigh levelled the game for Australia at 1-1.
The last 15 minutes began with Michael Royden putting England back ahead in the 46thminute and Ted Graves ensured England’s victory at 3-1 in the last 60 seconds.
“We played against them (Australia) a couple of weeks before the tournament and lost. So it feels really good to win this game and right those wrongs,” said England’s Alex Chihota. “I think we have done well in this tournament. We were unlucky in the game against Holland in our pool, but we have bounced back after that and put in two good performances.”
South Africa vs Ireland (Full-Time Score: 2-4)
A controlled performance by Ireland helped them register a relatively comfortable 4-2 victory against South Africa in the last match on Day 7 of the tournament for the 9/12 positions. It was their second consecutive win in the classification rounds, having beaten Switzerland in their previous match, and also a revenge of sorts having lost to the South Africans 1-2 in the pool stage.
The win for the Irish team saw Gregory Williams tormenting the South African post on penalty corners, resulting in a hat-trick for him. He first put the Irish ahead 1-0 in the 16thminute and then made it 2-0 in the 36th, with Noa Mulvey extending that to 3-0 six minutes later. South Africa’s spirits were lifted by Reubel Sendzul just before the hooter signalling end of the third quarter at 3-1.
But Williams re-established Ireland’s three-goal lead in the 50thminute and they defended strongly to take the game towards its end and held on despite South Africa’s Brett Horn closing the gap to 4-2 in the 59thminute.
“It feels unreal, to be honest. To be able to say we are in the top 10 in the under-21 is class. We played them in the pool stage, but we didn’t play our best. So to get a win, we are so happy,” said the elated Ireland captain, Louis Rowe, while looking forward to the game against England next. “We know they are a hard man-to-man team, so it will be a physical battle, especially after a couple of weeks here. But we are very excited about it. We do know a lot of them well. So, it will be nice to get the bragging rights.”
To see the full match schedule,click here
FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025 – 6th December
Result: Match 49
Namibia 1-3 Canada
Player of the Match: Leighton De Souza (CAN)
Umpires: Khamis Al Balushi (OMA) and Liu Yao (CHN)
Result: Match 50
Oman 2-8 Egypt
Player of the Match: Kasem Abdelrehman (EGY)
Umpires: Hideki Kinoshita (JPN) and Ali Mohammad Shahbaz (BAN)
Result: Match 51
Chile 1-3 Japan
Player of the Match: Yuma Fujiwara (JPN)
Umpires: Daniel Veerman (NED) and Benjamin Peters (USA)
Result: Match 52
Austria 1 (3 SO) – 1 (1) China
Player of the Match: Lorenz Breitebecker (AUT)
Umpires: Ahmed Elsayed (EGY) and Deepa (IND)
Result: Match 53
Malaysia 7-3 Switzerland
Player of the Match: Azimuddin Kamaruddin (MAS)
Umpires: Timothy Sheahan (AUS) and Ana Vazquez Escalante (MEX)
Result: Match 54
Bangladesh 5-3 Korea
Player of the Match: Amirul Islam (BAN)
Umpires: Ravdeep Sethi (HKG) and Sourabh Rajput (IND)
Result: Match 55
England 3-1 Australia
Player of the Match: Michael Royden (ENG)
Umpires: Rawi Anbananthan (MAS) and Ilanggo Kanabathu (MAS)
Result: Match 56
South Africa 2-4 Ireland
Player of the Match: Gregory Williams
Umpires: Bevan Nichol (NZL) and Harry Collinson (ENG)
