Junior Hockey WC: India need to guard against complacency against Spain

India started their campaign in the Junior Hockey World Cup on Tuesday by beating Korea with a scoreline of 4-2. Araijeet Singh Hundal shined in the fixture with a hat-trick while Amandeep also contributed to the win with a solitary goal. However, Men in Blue will be eyeing a second straight win against Spain, when these two teams will take on each other on Thursday.

Kuala Lumpur: Their campaign has started positively, but India must guard against complacency when they face Spain in their second Pool C match of the FIH junior men's hockey World Cup here on Thursday.

• Match no 1 ✅️
  Victory ✅️#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 have secured a victory over Korea 🇰🇷 in their first match of the FIH Hockey Men's Junior World Cup Malaysia 2023.#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #RisingStars #JWCMalaysia2023 pic.twitter.com/ZezVVqkwbI

  — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) December 5, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  Match no 1 ✅️
  Victory ✅️#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 have secured a victory over Korea 🇰🇷 in their first match of the FIH Hockey Men's Junior World Cup Malaysia 2023.#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #RisingStars #JWCMalaysia2023 pic.twitter.com/ZezVVqkwbI

  — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) December 5, 2023

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  Match no 1 ✅️
  Victory ✅️#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 have secured a victory over Korea 🇰🇷 in their first match of the FIH Hockey Men's Junior World Cup Malaysia 2023.#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #RisingStars #JWCMalaysia2023 pic.twitter.com/ZezVVqkwbI

  — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) December 5, 2023

Vice-captain Araijeet Singh Hundal came out to be India's saviour, scoring a hat-trick as India overcame some anxious moments to beat Korea 4-2 in their opener on Tuesday. But India's coach C R Kumar was not too satisfied with the performance and said his side needs to be more clinical and avoid conceding unnecessary penalty corners.

India conceded six penalty corners while earning just two against Korea. "We are very happy that we got the three points and that's the positive side. But we have to be more clinical in both circles. We conceded two goals in penalty corners which we need to pay attention to," Kumar said after the Korea match.

"We gave away too many penalty corners, six in the whole game where we had just two. We need to be more cautious." India are striving to secure their fourth podium finish in the event after having won the tournament twice in 2001 (Hobart) and Lucknow (2016).

The country had clinched a silver medal way back in 1997 in Milton Keynes, England. Skipper Uttam Singh and his deputy Hundal are the only two players of the big event having featured in the last edition of the tournament, where India finished fourth in Bhubaneswar, losing to France in the bronze medal play-off match.

The Spaniards, who have a bronze medal in their kitty at the 2005 edition in Rotterdam, are India's toughest opponent in the pool, comprising Canada as the other side. But going by form, India will start as favourites against Spain on Thursday. India's last pool match is against Canada on Saturday.

Pool A consists of defending champions Argentina, Australia, Chile, and Malaysia, while Pool B has Egypt, France, Germany and South Africa. Pool D is the toughest of the lot as Belgium, Netherlands, New Zealand and Pakistan will be vying for a quarterfinal berth.

The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the quarterfinals. The Indians played an attacking game from the onset on Tuesday and would look to continue in the same vein but their defense will have to be cautious against counter-attacks which the Koreans used to great effect to earn penalty corners. Spain too would be looking to exploit that weakness against the Indians.