New Tournament Format Ends India’s Quarterfinal Hopes Despite Commanding Wins Over Ireland And Canada
India misses the Junior World Cup quarterfinals despite strong wins, as the new format favours only unbeaten teams.
India’s women’s U21 hockey team crashed out of quarterfinal contention at the 2025 FIH Junior World Cup despite securing two convincing victories and finishing their group stage with a +15 goal difference. A 1-0 defeat to Germany in their opening match ultimately proved fatal under the tournament’s new 24-team format, where only the six pool winners and the two best second-placed teams advance directly to the last eight.
In their final group fixture against Ireland on Friday, India delivered a dominant performance, cruising to a 4-0 victory with goals from Kanika Siwach, Purnima Yadav (brace), and Sakshi Rana. The team generated 30 circle entries and earned eight penalty corners while completely neutralising Ireland, who managed just 11 entries and no PCs. The result gave India six points from three matches—identical to second-placed teams in other pools—but inferior head-to-head and goal-difference tie-breakers sealed their elimination.
The expanded format rewarded consistency across all three group games. While India amassed an impressive goal tally, Pool A saw both Belgium and Argentina finish unbeaten on seven points, with Belgium recording the largest margin in tournament history—a 21-0 demolition of Zimbabwe. In Pool D, China and England also reached seven points each, China confirming their rise as Asia’s top junior side with a 4-0 win over South Africa that dashed India’s faint hopes of progressing as one of the two best runners-up.
Also Read: Mitchell Starc Tops Wasim Akram’s Wicket Record, Continues Dominance In Test Cricket
Coach Jyoti Singh’s side will now shift focus to the classification round for places 9-16. India are scheduled to face Wales on Sunday, December 7, at 20:15 local time, in a match that offers an opportunity to end the campaign on a positive note and gain valuable ranking points ahead of future age-group competitions. The quarterfinal lineup is now set: Netherlands vs. England, United States vs. Belgium, Australia vs. China, and Germany vs. Argentina.
