Junior Indian Hockey - men and women

[sameerph]

We won easily 3-0 against Korea to go into Semi final. Only the second time we have reached semi final at this womens junior world cup, first one being in 2013 when we won bronze.

We meet Netherlands again in SF, a team who we lost in in 2013 junior world cup when we had reached SF for the only other time. Tough match.

[ssp]

Nice, comfortable win v. Korea. Should have scored more goals but some lovely hockey.

A really tough semi final v Netherlands. Germany beat Argentina rather easily and now have an easier route to the final as they meet England in the other semi.

[ssp]

We lost 3-0 to the Dutch in the semi final. Gave a good account and some encouraging signs. As usual, unforced errors were way higher the opposition and we lacked composure in the D. As I expected, we play England in the 3rd place play off. Hopefully we can get a win as they were thrashed 8-0 by Germany in their only truly competitive fixture in the tournament.

[sameerph]

Our team lost to England in penalty shoot out in the bronze medal match. That is somewhat disappointing finish after a great start.

[ssp]

Losing to England is really disappointing. Our hockey woes post Tokyo continue. At all levels, for both men and women!

Lack of composure in the D, poor decision making and unforced errors continue to plague all our teams.

[ssp]

Our U21s are competing in the Sultan Johor Cup.

So-so results so far. 2 wins v Malaysia and Japan, a loss (!!) to RSA (standard collapse at the end) and a 5-5 draw v Australia (with a last minute equaliser).

We have several of the 2021 JWC players here. Some good play going forward mixed with usual rubbish in defence and idiotic, needless tackles that result in cards and PCs. Rajinder Singh has been particularly silly with his tackling. Defence is standard Indian level- any hopeful hit into our D is a potential PC. 1-2 goals are gifted away per game by unforced errors. I had high hopes for Vishnukanth, but he tends to lose possession too often.

On the positive side, Bobby Singh Dhami and Utham Singh have looked good.

We need to beat GB to ensure a play off v. Australia in the final, otherwise we'll be in the 3/4th place match....or worse.

[sameerph]

We drew with GBR 5-5 and qualfied for final against Australia tomorrow in the final.

[sameerph]

We beat Australia 5-4 in super tie break after 1-1 draw in normal time. Looks like a good result for our under 21 team but I will leave it to SSP to do further drilldown of this performance as he usually does for us.

[ssp]

Very pleased we won the tournament.

We looked better than the recent U21WC showing where we got beaten badly by France (twice) & Germany.

However, the standard Indian hockey flaws were on display. By this I mean terrible, needless tackling that result in cards and PCs, trapping inside our D is awful (any hit or cross is a potential PC conceded), dribbling needlessly in defence and midfield, missing chances and failing to 'manage' leads. We were totally dominant v GB yet managed to go 3-1 behind. Same with RSA- we lost that 5-4. 1-2 entirely preventable goals were seen in most of the games.

The 3 forwards: Sudeep Charmako, Utham Singh and Bobby Singh looked very good. We fought back brilliantly GB and Australia in the pool games. Some lovely stickwork by several of the team and impressive fitness were the other positives.

Sharda's PCs got us several goals, but all the defenders were error prone (we concede 5 goals in 3 consecutive games).

[Sin Hombre]

Why are we conceding so many goals?

[prasen9]

Because we have bad defenders?

[Saffron Lenin]

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha junior hockey teams are all set to visit Malaysia to participate in the 1st National Hockey Development Program ((NHDP) International Tournament.

The Odisha Under 17 Men’s and Under 14 Women’s Hockey teams will take part in the tournament scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur from November 26 to December 3, 2022.from 26 Nov to 3 December.

“This is the first time any state team would be traveling to compete in an international tournament”, the State Sports Department informed.

The teams feature of players from Sports Hostel, Rourkela, and Odisha Naval Tata Hockey HPC.

The tournament will see participation of 8 men’s teams and 7 women’s teams from Japan, Singapore and Malaysia

[jayakris]

It is amazing how much the Odisha government supports hockey!

[Atithee]

Great initiative. Not sure what under-14 girls team really do in an academy and why international tournaments are held for this age group.

[prasen9]

Play hockey and a bit of academics. But, really are they that good and winning everything in India such that they need to fly abroad and play international opponents? Anyway, if it motivates people, takes the issue about traveling abroad, first international meet, etc. out of the picture and makes people more experienced, why not. The money could be better spent supporting equipment in more schools etc. Seems to me a bit of a gimmick here to get publicity. Anyway, if getting publicity is the price to pay for people to devote more money to sports development so be it.