Argentina head coach Juan Ignacio Gilardi vows to ‘fight for a medal’ at men’s Junior Hockey World Cup
Like any true Argentinian, Juan Ignacio Gilardi loves to explore the nature in all its beauty.
The 44-year-old head coach of Argentina’s men’s junior hockey team for the upcoming 2025 FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup in Chennai and Madurai is a keen surfer, particularly kitesurfing.
“I hope to find at least one hour to do kitesurfing here. If you know someone who takes lessons, contact me,” Gilardi told Sportstar on Wednesday after the team arrived at Chennai Airport.
The Rio Olympics gold medallist with 174 caps (2007-18), however, has quite a few scores to settle. Having lost to eventual champion Germany in the quarterfinals of the previous edition (2023) of the World Cup (he was the head coach then), Gilardi is confident his boys, called ‘Los Leoncitos’ (The Little Lions), will fight for a medal this time.
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“We have six players from the previous World Cup. It’s a new group, strong and unique. We have some players who are really skilful, really powerful. We have quite a few penalty corner specialists who can turn out to be the top-scorers of the tournament, and a good goalkeeper. We are going to fight for a medal,” he said.
The team led by Tomas Ruiz, according to the head coach, has had good preparations, having won the Pan American hockey championships, with an all-win record. “We won the Pan American Trophy, but we all know the World Cup is much harder. Tomorrow (on November 20), we start with the practice matches against India. We will be ready,” he said.
Placed in Group C with New Zealand, Japan and China, Argentina, the two-time champion, should progress into the quarterfinals quite comfortably. But Gilardi prefers to wait and watch. “We don’t know too much about Japan and China. We have some videos about New Zealand. We have to be confident about our game,” he concluded.
Published on Nov 19, 2025