Hosts India, looking to defend their Junior Hockey World Cup title in Bhubaneswar’s magnificent Kalinga Stadium, were stunned by France in their opening match on Wednesday. Despite scoring two goals in the last few minutes in the match, world number 5 India lost to world number 26 France, who won the match 5-4. The Indian team was led by Vivek Sagar Prasad. His counterpart Timothee Clement’s hat-trick had given France a 5-2 lead in the third quarter, from which the hosts could not recover.
India’s victory in the 2016 edition of the Junior World Cup came after 14 years, but the upward trend in Indian hockey since then, coupled with the fact that a few teams like England have pulled out of the tournament, made India one of the pre-tournament favourites, but they were shocked by the underdogs in their first group match.
