India made a strong start in their FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup campaign by defeating Chile 7-0. Rosan Khujur and Dilraj Singh each scored twice to lead the Indian team to victory on Friday.The scoring opened in the second quarter with Rosan finding the net at the 16th and 21st minutes. Dilraj Singh added his goals in the 25th and 34th minutes, while Ajeet Yadav, Anmol Ekka, and captain Rohit contributed one goal each.India, ranked second in the Under-21 category, will face Oman in their next Pool B match on Saturday.The first quarter saw India dominating possession but struggling to create scoring opportunities against Chile’s strong defence. The Indians had their first penalty corner opportunity just before the quarter ended, but captain Rohit’s attempt was well defended. The deadlock broke one minute into the second quarter when Manmeet Singh set up Rosan, who scored from inside the circle. Shortly after, Manmeet missed a chance when his reverse hit went wide of the Chilean goal.Rosan scored his second goal by skillfully manoeuvring past two defenders and the Chilean goalkeeper Nicolas Troncoso after receiving a pass from Arshdeep Singh. India’s dominance continued with Dilraj scoring from a penalty corner rebound in the 25th minute. The second quarter was particularly strong for India, with most of the play happening in Chile’s half.The third quarter saw Dilraj scoring his second goal after receiving a pass from Ankit Pal. Ajeet Yadav added another goal a minute later with a reverse hit, assisted by Gurjot Singh.Chile earned their first penalty corner in the 40th minute but failed to capitalize on it. Anmol Ekka extended India’s lead to 6-0 by converting a penalty corner in the 48th minute.In the final minutes, captain Rohit successfully converted a penalty stroke. India had two more penalty corner opportunities in the closing seconds but couldn’t convert them.Earlier in the day, New Zealand defeated China 5-3 in Pool C, with Jonty Elmes scoring a hat-trick. Owen Brown and Sam Lints also scored for New Zealand, while China’s goals came from Yubo Wang and Jialiang Zhang.In another Pool C match, Argentina overcame Japan 4-1. Nicolas Rodriguez scored twice from penalty corners, while Mateo Torrigiani and Bruno Correa added field goals. Naru Kimura scored Japan’s only goal.Switzerland secured a 4-0 victory over Oman in Pool B, with goals from Jonathan Baumbach, Mattia Ribaudo, Léonard Kraxner, and Alessio Brunold.The tournament is being jointly hosted by Chennai and Madurai and will continue until December 10.
