India enters final of Junior Hockey World Cup 2016

Lucknow: India clinched a breathtaking victory in the semifinal of the Junior Hockey World Cup 2016 by defeating Australia 4-2 in the shootout here on Friday.

India continued their winning run in the tournament to set up the final clash with Belgium, which stunned six-time champions Germany 4-3 in the shootout to reach their maiden World Cup final. The final will be played on Sunday.

In the Junior Hockey World Cup semifinal, Australia scored the first goal in the 14^th minute of the match by converting a penalty corner by Tom Craig.

Till the half-time, Australia managed to maintain the lead, but in the 42^nd minute, an attacking Gurjant Singh scored off a reverse hit for India levelling the score 1-1.

Also Read: Hockey Junior World Cup: India beats Spain 2-1 to enter semifinal

Within next six minutes, India took 2-1 lead as Mandeep Singh also unleashed a fierce reverse hit to score a goal.

In the 57^th minute of the match, Australia managed to level the score 2-2 with a sharp deflection by Lachlan Sharp, and the score remained levelled until the full-time.

Shootout:

• Blake Govers scores. India 0-1 Australia.
• Harjeet Singh scores on rebound. India 1-1 Australia.
• Matthew Bird fails to score. India 1-1 Australia.
• Harmanpreet scores. India 2-1 Australia.
• Sharp fails to score. India 2-1 Australia.
• Sumit scores. India 3-1 Australia.
• Beltz scores. India 3-2 Australia.
• Harmanpreet scores. India 4-2 Australia.

Also Read: Junior Hockey World Cup: India into quarters, beats SA 2-1

With Harmanpreet's goal, India secured place in the Junior Hockey World Cup 2016 final.