Hockey: Bangladesh clinch Challenger Trophy to sign off from Men’s Junior World Cup

Madurai, Dec 8 (IANS) Bangladesh finished their FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025 campaign on a happy note, clinching the title in the inaugural Challenger Trophy competition, introduced by the FIH president Tayyab Ikram as an incentive for the 17-24 place playoffs, with a 5-4 victory over Austria in Madurai on Monday.

Bangladesh’s first-ever title of global significance came via an impressive win over Austria, led by their goal-scoring machine Amirul Islam, who scored another hat-trick as Madurai hosted the last-four matches of the tournament.

Amirul Islam was the star for Bangladesh in the playoff match for the 17/18 positions. A goal off a penalty corner for the drag-flick star Amirul and two penalty-stroke conversions put him firmly on top of the goal-scorer’s list with 18 goals, as Amirul, Hozifa Hussain, and Rakibul Hasan ensured Bangladesh went ahead 3-0 by the 35th minute.

Austria kept trying to claw back into the game, first making it 1-3 through Andor Losonci and then reducing it to 4-2 in the 51st minute. But Amirul’s hat-trick goal a minute later gave Bangladesh the breathing space they needed to see off the remaining 8 minutes.

However, Austria refused to give up without a fight and scored through Julian Kaiser (57th) and Mateusz Nyckowiak (59th) to give Bangladesh the jitters, but they held on to win and take home the Challenger Trophy.

In other matches on Monday, Namibia defeated Oman 4-2; Canada prevailed over Egypt 3-2 in the shoot-out after they ended 2-2 at the end of regulation time, and Korea overcame China 5-4 in their respective playoff matches.

Namibia signed off from the tournament with a win in the 23/24 place classification match, defeating Oman 4-2 on the concluding day of the competition in Madurai.

Namibia led at the halfway mark after Josh van der Merwe equalised in the 19th minute to negate Oman’s 1-0 lead, courtesy Maitham Al Wahaibi’s penalty-corner conversion in the first quarter. Gerhard Myburgh’s 22nd-minute goal then put Namibia ahead 2-1.

After the third quarter failed to produce any goals, it was Oman’s turn to restore parity at 2-2, when Alhussin Al Hasni produced a penalty-corner conversion in the 48th minute.

With the game hanging in the balance in the last 12 minutes, Namibia not just held their nerves better but also managed to break the deadlock in the 55th minute off a PC and then sealed the game at 4-2 with a field goal in the 60th – credit to the skills of John-Paul Britz and Ludwig van Rooyen, respectively.

Canada beat Egypt in shoot-out

A shootout decided the 21/22 positions, with Canada and Egypt fighting it out in a tight contest that couldn’t be decided in the regulation 60 minutes, which ended at 2-2. The Egyptians then prevailed in the shootout 3-2 to finish in the 21st position.

Robin Thind brace for Canada brought them back from 0-2 down, after Egypt dominated proceedings in the first two quarters. Basel Abdelmonem put Egypt ahead in the 3rd minute and then scored his second goal in the 38th minute to add a cushion.

Canada regrouped towards the end of the third quarter, coming back through Thind’s penalty-corner goals in the 43rd and 45th minutes. But his effort went in vain, with Egypt claiming victory by clinching the tiebreaking shootout 3-2.

Mohab Hegab, Ahmed Fouda, and Abdelrahman Kasem beat the Canadian goalkeeper Stanley Cooke in the shootout, while only Robin Thind and Lucas Aardenburg could go past the Egyptian custodian Ebraheem Arafaat.

China lose to Korea 4-5

The all-Asian face-off for the 19/20 positions produced a goal-fest that was dominated by Korea, before China threatened late in the final quarter through Li Pengfei’s hat-trick, before running out of time to lose 4-5 and finish 20th in the competition.

Korea looked to be running away with the match, having taken a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, with the in-form Minhyeok Lee scoring in the first minute with PC. He added a second to his name in the 13th minute off another short corner for Korea’s 2-0 lead in the first quarter. The Koreans entered the half-time break with a comfortable 3-0 lead, as Jaewon Park increased the margin in the 20th minute.

China’s Li got his team on the board to cut the lead to 1-3 in the 34th minute, but Donggeon Kim restored Korea’s three-goal margin three minutes later at 4-1, only to see China earn a penalty stroke in the next 60 seconds, converted by Li to pull another goal back.

Korea began the final 15 minutes by adding another cushion for a 5-2 lead through Gyeonghu Lee in the 48th minute. Just when it looked like the game was beyond China to chase, Di Yanwei’s 56th-minute strike made it 5-3, and though Li followed up to complete his hat-trick, it came only in the 60th minute to give Korea a 5-4 victory.

--IANS

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