India beat Australia by 4-2; enter into the final of Men's Junior Hockey World Cup

India pipped Australia 4-2 via shootout in a thrilling contest and entered the final of the men’s Junior Hockey World Cup after a hiatus of 15 years in the Major Dhyan Chand Astroturf Stadium in Lucknow today. India, who last won the Junior World Cup way back in 2001 in Hobart, are on a mission to reclaim the title and will face Belgium in the summit clash on Sunday.

The hosts scored two goals in the second half through Gurjant Singh in 42nd minute and Mandeep Singh in 48th minute after Australia took the lead through Tom Craig in 14th minute. But just when it was time to close out the game, the Indian defence conceded a soft goal by Lachlan Sharp in 57th



minute to take the match into shoot-out after both the teams were locked at 2-2 at the end of regulation time.

In the other semi final, Belgium thrashed Germany 4-3 in penalty shoot out. Earlier in the day, Egypt defeated Canada 2-1 contesting for 15th and 16th place, and team Japan also took on Korea by 2-1 for 13th and 14th position respectively. In this Championship, which started from 8th December, 16 teams were in fray where 44 matches were scheduled between 4 pooled teams. The championship will come to close an end on 18th December. This is the second time that India plays host to the men’s Junior World Cup. In 2013, the event was held in New Delhi.