Junior Hockey World Cup 2025: Bangladesh thrashes Oman; Austria, China enter crossovers

Oman’s tough initiation into its maiden FIH Junior Men’s World Cup campaign continued after a 0-13 loss to fellow newbie Bangladesh in the 17th-24th classification round match at the Madurai International Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

Amirul Islam continued his Penalty Corner (PC) purple patch, scoring five to guide Bangladesh to its first win in the tournament. Although the side had given a good account of itself during the Pool F clashes against France and Australia, it only had a solitary point from the draw with South Korea to show before this knockout game.

Bangladesh started the game on the front foot, earning 12 circle penetrations in the first quarter. But all of its goals came via Amirul’s drag-flick. However, the team only had a conversion rate of 33.33 per cent (three from nine) thanks to the exploits of Oman goalkeeper Ahmed al Naabi.

Oman pulled things back in the second period, earning six penetrations of its own while restricting the opponent to nine. The two goals it conceded in Q2 came from quick transitions, with Rakibul Hasan putting the finishing touches on both occasions. Bangladesh dominated the last two quarters of play, once again taking the penetrations count past double digits. Rakibul completed his hat-trick, and Amirul added two more, taking his tournament tally to 12.

“I think we’ve been playing better as the tournament has progressed. Our target is to play the best hockey we can. Extending the tournament to 24 teams has allowed us to play the best teams, and our boys have realised they are not far off,” Bangladesh head coach Siegfried Aikman said after the game.

Bangladesh will take on South Korea, which beat Egypt 6-3. Minhyeok Lee scored four — three PCs and a Penalty Stroke (PS) — to hand the 13th-ranked Asian team its first victory.

Namibia falters in shootout

Namibia suffered its third reverse of the tournament, falling to Austria in a shootout after the match finished 2-2 at the end of four quarters. The opening few minutes of play were quite cagey, with both teams struggling to create opportunities through open play.

Namibia’s designated attackers couldn’t score a single goal in the tie-breaker, handing Austria its first win and a place in the crossovers for 17th-20th place.
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Austria started the better of the two sides, earning two PCs in the first quarter, though both attempts went awry. The side grew into the game, creating more chances with each passing quarter.

Namibia opened the scoring against the run of play in the 40th minute after captain John-Paul Britz converted a PC. Three goals ensued in the next five minutes, with Austria bringing the match back level both times. The African nation withstood a flurry of PCs in the final minutes of the contest to force a shootout.

However, its designated attackers couldn’t score a single goal in the tie-breaker, handing Austria its first win and a place in the crossovers for 17th-20th place.

China completes comeback against Canada

Two exquisite finishes from Robin Thind went in vain as China pipped Canada 3-2 to fix a date with Austria in the cross-overs. Despite China controlling the game for most parts, the North American nation took the lead and doubled it due to two moments of individual brilliance. For Robin’s first goal, he first knocked it out of the defender’s grasp after his stunning air-dribble-plus-scoop shot was saved by the goalkeeper. The scoop came in handy next time around, when the lanky forward managed to lift it over the ‘keeper while falling backwards.

China pulled one back through Yubo Wang’s PC goal and could have equalised with a PS, but Jialiang Zhang sent it blazing over the bar. The 33rd-ranked junior side had to wait for over 30 minutes for the next goal, but completed the comeback late in the fourth quarter. Wang scored another PC four minutes before the end, before Dongjun Ning sealed the result with just seconds left on the clock.

Published on Dec 04, 2025