India's real test starts in FIH Jr WC against Belgium in quarterfinals

Chennai, Dec 4 (PTI) All boxes ticked so far in a relatively easy pool campaign, the real test for India will start when they take on Belgium in the quarterfinals of the FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup here on Friday.

Placed in Pool B alongside Chile, Oman and Switzerland, India romped to the knockout round, scoring 29 goals and conceding none, the best strike rate among all 24 teams.

But the PR Sreejesh-coach team knows very well that those results will hardly have any significance as tougher teams await it in the business end of the tournament.

Any slip-up from here would crush India's dream of reclaiming the crown at home after nine years. India last won the title in Lucknow in 2016.

So far, India looked on course to repeat the feat with some stellar performances in the pool stages, scoring 18 field goals, nine from penalty corners and two from penalty strokes.

But it won't be easy for the Indians from here on, and any complacency might throw them out of the title reckoning.

The Indians ruled the roost in the first two games against Chile and Oman, scoring goals at will with the backline hardly being bothered. Even though the hosts beat Switzerland 5-0, India's defence was tested by the Swiss with goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh and Bikramjit Singh making some fantastic saves to keep their clean sheet.

Penalty corner conversions, which still remain a concern, made some inroads with Shila Nand Lakra finding the net twice in India's last match. But India would want skipper Rohit and Anmol Ekka to pull up their socks.

The Indian strikers made merry in the pool stages with Dilraj Singh (6 goals), Manmeet (5), Arshdeep Singh (4), Ajeet Yadav and Gurjot Singh (2) all shining bright.

Rosan Kujur, Adroi Ekka, Ankit Pal and Ingalemba Luwang Thounaojam have held the midfield superbly but it remains to be seen how they fare against quality opponents.

Sreejesh, however, is not reading too much into the performances of the pool stages.

"Definitely, there are areas to improve. From the next match onwards the real tournament is starting and it is really important for us to focus on those areas," he said.

"The amount of times we are entering the circle, we need to convert them into PCs or goals or shots. And we need to tighten our defence too, we are conceding some unwanted PCs. It is really important for us to focus on the defensive structure more and allow the forwards to go up and attack." Belgium, on the other hand, have progressed to the quarterfinals as the second best runner-ups side from their pool with two wins behind toppers Spain.

But India can take Belgium lightly at their own peril as the European side have the third best scoring record in the pool stages with 22 goals, including 11 field goals and as many from penalty corners.

"Junior World Cup is not an easy platform, I mean none of these teams will give you an easy pathway. The real starts now and any mistake can cost dearly," Srejeesh warned.

In the other quarterfinals, Spain will take on New Zealand, France will play Germany in a repeat of last edition's final and Netherlands will be up against Argentina. PTI SSC PDS PDS