India second in Poznan hockey

The Indian under-21 hockey team finished second in the six-nation Junior Challenge hockey tournament, which concluded in Poznan, Poland, on Sunday.

Germany won the tournament with 13 points; India, with 10 points, were second while England, with eight, finished third.

India thrashed Poland 6-0, while Germany, who won all their earlier matches, drew with England 2-2 in their last round matches.

After a goalless first half, Michael Sandeep opened the scoring with a field goal in the 36th minute. Inderjeet SIngh (43rd), Rajpal Singh (57th), Pratap Amarjeet (58th and 64th) and Tirkey Proboth (60th) added to the tally. All the goals came from field play.

India's Rajpal Singh was adjudged the best player of the tournament while Germany's Florian Keller, with eight goals, emerged the top scorer.

The tournament was originally supposed to be an eight-nation event but Canada and Egypt withdrew at short notice. The re-scheduled event was played on a round-robin format.

Earlier, on Friday, India drew their fourth match against England 2-2, while Germany drubbed Malaysia 4-1.

India came back after being a goal down when James Webber scored in the eighth minute. But Amarjeet Pratap scored a field goal in the 21st minute and then Raju sounded the boards from a penalty-corner four minutes from half-time to give India a 2-1 lead at the breather.

Ben Hawes scored the equaliser for England in the 45th minute from a penalty-corner.

Four of the teams which played in the tournament will be seen in action at the Junior World Cup in Hobart, Australia, from October 9 to 21.

Final standings:

Country	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Points
Germany	5	4	1	0	25	8	13
India	5	3	1	1	24	9	10
England	5	2	2	1	11	10	8
Malaysia	5	2	0	3	15	13	6
Poland	5	2	0	3	6	16	6
Russia	5	0	0	5	6	31	0

Related interview:
Penalty-corners need improvement, says under-21 coach

Earlier reports:
Indian juniors score: Poznan hockey
Prabodh Tirkey to lead jr. hockey team