India suffer crushing 1-4 defeat to Spain

An India player is tackled by a Spanish opponent during their FIH Jr men’s hockey World Cup match in KL yesterday. Pic/Hockey India

Spain were superb on the wings and played a close-knit game to crush India 4-1 in a pool match of the FIH junior men's hockey World Cup here on Tuesday.

Spain are leading Pool C with six points from two wins, while Korea are ahead of India on goal difference, with both sides having three points each. The fourth team in the pool, Canada, are yet to open their account after two losses.

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India will play their last pool match against Canada on Saturday. Uttam Singh's side, after starting the prestigious tournament on a high with a 4-2 victory against Korea in Pool C, were brought down to earth by the tactically superior Spain, who made full use of the opportunities and tightened their defence resolutely to deny India penalty corner conversions.

Cabre Verdiell Pol (1st, 41st min) and Rafi Andreas (18th, 60th) were on target for the Spaniards, while for India, the consolation goal came from the stick of Rohit, who converted a penalty corner in the 33rd minute.

Most contests between India and Spain have gone to the wire but on Thursday, it seemed the 2016 junior World Cup champions were low on energy, conceding a goal in the very first minute of the contest.

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