Bengaluru, June 30 (IANS) After being drawn alongside archrivals Pakistan, Chile and Switzerland in Pool B for the upcoming FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup 2025 in Tamil Nadu, Indian head coach PR Sreejesh said the game against Pakistan will be interesting in the expanded 24-team tournament.

FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup 2025 will be played in Chennai and Madurai from November 28 to December 10.

“Our Pool B presents a good challenge, with Pakistan, Chile, and Switzerland. While I expect the match against Pakistan will be interesting, the tournament will really start from the quarterfinals. Therefore, we will take each game as it comes, one step at a time and grab as many points as we can to secure the best spot in the quarterfinals,” Sreejesh said in a Hockey India release.

He further shared his thoughts and plans on playing the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup, 2025 in the new expanded format and added, “This is the first time the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup, 2025 has been expanded to 24 teams, and we’re planning our preparations accordingly. Playing in this new format will be very exciting.”

The upcoming 14th edition of the FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup has been expanded to 24 teams competing for the coveted title, instead of 16 teams that competed in the previous editions. This will be the very first time that 24 teams will be playing in the World Cup. The FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup was initially a 12-team tournament, which expanded to 16 teams from the 2001 edition onwards.

Under the new competition format for the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup 2025, teams will be divided into six pools (A-F) with four teams in each pool. Each team plays the other teams in their pool and earns points based on the results.

Teams are ranked within their pool based on points earned and will move on to crossover matches, where teams that finish third and fourth in each pool will play crossover matches to determine their final rankings. Top two teams from each pool will qualify for the quarterfinals, which will be played in a knockout format to progress to the semifinals and the final.

Teams eliminated in the quarterfinals will play classification matches to determine their final ranking (5-8) while teams that lose in the crossover matches will play classification matches to determine their final ranking (9-16) and teams that finish at the bottom of their pool will play classification matches to determine their final ranking (17-24).

In the last edition of the FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup, 2023, India had missed the podium and finished fourth; their best results came back in 2001 and 2016 when they won the Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup titles.

Germany has been the most successful team in the Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup, having won the title seven times. They are also currently the defending champion, having won the tournament in 2023.

–IANS

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