Women's FIH Junior World Cup 2023: India out of title run after Germany beat Canada 8-0

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India made a premature exit at the Women's FIH Junior World Cup 2023 in Santiago, Chile as the U-21 women's side lost to Belgium 2-3 on Saturday (December 2) to finish outside the qualifying spot for the knockout stages.

India's title challenge ended in the group stages after Germany grabbed the second spot in Pool C (6 points; two wins, one loss) with an 8-0 win over Canada right after India lost to Belgium, who took the top spot with nine points (three wins in as many matches).

India crucially lost their second Pool C match two days ago to Germany 3-4 after taking a 2-0 lead early in the game. The exit from the title run came despite defeating Canada 12-0 in their opening pool match. India will now play for pride in the classification stages with ninth place up for grabs.

The disappointing show comes after India finished fourth in the delayed edition last year in South Africa. Their third-place finish in 2013 remains the best-ever finish in a Women's FIH Junior World Cup while they finished ninth twice and 11th once in five appearances in the tournament so far.

As far as the match on Saturday is concerned, India struggled to break a well-organised Belgium defense after the European side took lead in the fifth minute from open play through Noa Schreus before defender France de Mot doubled the lead from a penalty corner deflection in the third quarter.

India didn't go down without a fight as Annu finally converted a penalty corner early in the fourth and final quarter following an injection by Deepika Soreng. Annu then levelled the score three minutes later from a penalty stroke after Belgium conceded a foul inside the circle.

India's joy was short-lived as Belgium quickly responded with a penalty corner of their own and forced Indian defense into conceding a penalty stroke from the PC. Astrid Bonami converted the penalty stroke to give the lead back to Belgium. Bonami is now also the joint-leading goalscorer (6) in the Women's FIH Junior World Cup 2023 with Annu.