India smashed Oman 17-0 in a completely one-sided Group B encounter at the FIH Men’s Junior World Cup 2025 in Chennai on Saturday, registering their second win in as many matches and moving to the top of the pool standings. The emphatic victory sets up a high-stakes clash against Switzerland on Monday, which will effectively decide the direct qualification to the quarterfinals.
With this goal fest, India jumped ahead of Switzerland—who also have two wins—courtesy of a superior goal difference.
Arshdeep Singh, Manmeet Singh and Dilraj Singh powered India’s total with hat-tricks. Ajeet Yadav, Gurjot Singh and T. Luwang scored two goals each, while Anmol Ekka and Shardanand Tiwari added one apiece.
Despite the scoreline, India struggled with penalty corner execution, converting just 3 out of 18 opportunities.
“The only takeaway today could be working on those early penalty corner conversions; everything else was sheer domination,” the team management noted after the match.
Pool F action: France and Australia start strongly
Under overcast skies, last edition’s runner-up France launched their campaign with a commanding 11-1 win over South Korea in the opening Pool F match at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium. Seven different players found the target, with Arthur Plauche scoring a hat-trick and Victor Saint-Martin and Gabin Lorrazuri netting braces.
Goalkeeper Antoine Robert drew huge appreciation from the crowd for three spectacular saves early on, denying Korea a chance to equalise.
Australia, another major title contender, defeated Bangladesh 5-3 in a rain-interrupted thriller. Oliver Will opened scoring within 46 seconds, before Bangladesh’s Amirul Islam struck a brilliant hat-trick from penalty corners to push the match into a tense finish.
Switzerland edges Chile 3-2 to retain quarterfinal hopes
Earlier, Switzerland clinched a hard-fought 3-2 win over Chile to record their second consecutive victory and temporarily top Pool B before the India-Oman result.
Jonathan Baumbach, Jens Fluck and Mattia Ribaudo all scored from penalty corners to help the Swiss resist a strong late comeback.
The loss effectively ends Chile’s hopes of progressing to the knockouts.
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