Berlin, June 22 (IANS) The Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team enjoyed a dominant 3-1 win over Australia in their second match in the 4 Nations Tournament at the TC 1899 Blau Weiss stadium in Berlin.
Shardanand Tiwari (15′), Sourabh Anand Khush (36′) and Amir Ali (43′) scored goals for India while Oliver Will (55′) scored the lone goal for Australia.
India started the match strong and found an early goal in the 15th minute as Shardanand Tiwari converted his penalty corner to give his side the lead. Both teams fought hard in the rest of the first half but neither could break the deadlock again as India headed into the second half with a slim lead in hand.
India built on the momentum as they scored back-to-back goals in the third quarter. In the 36th minute, Sourabh Anand Khushwaha extended the lead with a crucial field goal past the Australian keeper. Moments later, in the 43rd minute, Amir Ali pushed India closer to the victory with another field goal for the winning team.
In the final quarter of the match, Australia too managed to score a goal with five minutes left on the clock courtesy of a field goal by Oliver Will however, they couldn’t find two more and handed the win to India.
The tournament features a round-robin format where each of the four participating teams – India, Germany, Australia, and Spain – will face each other once in the Pool stage. The top two teams at the end of the group matches will qualify for the final, while the remaining teams will contest the 3rd/4th place playoff.
India will next play Spain on June 24 at the same venue.
–IANS
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