Chennai, Dec 2 (IANS) Indian junior men’s hockey team eased their way into the quarterfinals of the prestigious FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025 after their unbeaten run in the round robin league stage. On Tuesday, the team convincingly beat Switzerland 5-0 at the Madurai International Hockey Stadium. The team led by Rohit and coached by PR Sreejesh will take on Belgium on December 5.

The visitors were no match for India Colts’ experience and dominant performance. India’s goal rush began as early as the 2nd minute, with birthday boy Manmeet Singh giving the home side a cushion early in the game. He doubled the lead to 2-0 in the 11th minute with yet another scintillating field goal, while Sharda Nand Tiwari made it 3-0 in the 13th minute with his well-executed PC.

It was exactly the kind of start India was looking for, and they enthralled the Madurai audience, who had turned up despite the cyclonic weather. Arshdeep Singh, who scored a hat-trick of goals in the previous match against Oman, scored India’s fourth goal in the 28th minute. Meanwhile, goalie Prince Deep Singh was on top of his game, making some fantastic saves that kept Switzerland from scoring goals.

India’s performance was clinical and ensured they kept up the momentum into the fourth quarter, too. Sharda Nand, who was awarded the player of the match, scored his second goal and India’s fifth goal in the 54th minute through a PC. This sealed the game for India, with no room for Switzerland to threaten the team.

It was yet another big win for India after they beat Chile 7-0 and Oman 17-0 in their previous matches to advance to the knockout stage.

India will play the Quarterfinals in Chennai on December 5.

In other matches in the competition, Australia defeated Korea 3-1 while England defeated Malaysia by the same margin. France prevailed over Bangladesh 3-2, the Netherlands thrashed Austria 11-0, Chile handed Oman a 2-0 defeat, while Belgium handed Egypt a 10-0 defeat, and Spain defeated Namibia 13-0.

–IANS

bsk/