India suffer 1-4 defeat to Germany in semis

An India player (right) tries to get past his German opponent in Kuala Lumpur yesterday

Two-time champions India raised hopes of advancing to the Junior World Cup hockey final before wasting 13 penalty corners and fading away in a 1-4 defeat to six-time winners Germany at the Bukit Jalil Stadium on Thursday.

Despite forcing penalty corners galore, the Indians simply lacked the finesse in execution. India's penalty corner variations were executed slowly, not causing much trouble to the rivals.

In reply, Germany converted both penalty corners they earned.

The Indians pressed hard at the start, forcing two penalty corners before Ben Hasbach opened the scoring (eighth minute) when he capitalised on a rebound during a goalmouth scrimmage.

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India muffed two more penalty corners before striker Sudeep Chirmako sent a reverse hit into the net for the equaliser (11th min).

Germany then launched a counter that produced the first penalty corner in the dying seconds of the first half, which was converted by Hasbach.

Down 1-2 in the first half, the Indians went into a shell. Errors creeped into their game and their raids decreased.

Paul Glander's rasping drag-flick off Germany's second penalty corner made it 3-1 (41st) and the game was already out of India's reach by the time Florian Sperling scored from a narrow angle, scooping the ball over the goalkeeper (58th). India play Spain (who lost to France) in the bronze-medal match on Saturday.