Hockey: Indian women finish 10th at Junior World Cup after defeat against Spain; country’s second-worst finish in tournament’s history

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India and Spain delivered a high-level contest for ninth place, with Spain showing greater clarity in circulation and in their exits from the back. (Hockey India)

Indian women’s hockey team finished at 10th spot after losing against Spain 1-2 at Centro Deportivo de Hockey Césped, Estadio Nacional in Santiago, Chile on Thursday, marking their second-worst performance in the tournament’s history. In the past editions India’s finishing positions were: 2023 – 9th, 2022 – 4th, 2013 – 3rd, 2009 – 9th, 2005 – 11th, 2001 – 9th.

India started the Junior World Cup in Chile with a win against Namibia but their defeat against Germany effectively ended their quarterfinal hopes. They beat Ireland to enter the 9-16 classification bracket. They beat Wales, but then struggled against Uruguay where they needed a penalty shootout to prevail after being wasteful in 60 minutes. Eventually, against Spain, they lost to finish 10th.

India and Spain delivered a high-level contest for ninth place, with Spain showing greater clarity in circulation and in their exits from the back. Spain progressively opened spaces along the right flank until the breakthrough in Q2: a driven cross from the wing and a delicate deflection from Natalia Vilanova redirected the ball entirely for the 1–0 in the 15th minute. India struggled to generate circle entries in the first half and relied on defensive work inside the 23m.

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Q3 concentrated the drama. India briefly drew level, but the goal was overturned following a video umpire referral detecting an infringement. Immediately afterwards, Spain struck from a penalty corner: a clean reception at the top and a low, firm strike from Esther Canales made it 2–0 in the 35th minute, her second goal of the night. India cut the margin through a penalty corner executed by Kanika Siwach, whose low effort bounced subtly and displaced the goalkeeper in the 41st minute. Spain controlled the final phase to secure ninth place, leaving India in tenth.

Player of the Match Teresa Sáenz de Santa María expressed, “Today was very close, but I think we stayed on our plan and worked well as a team. We started very low, that’s true, but we kept pushing and improved throughout the match. I can’t wait for the next game, thank you very much.”

For India, Hina Bano and Kanika Siwach both finished the World Cup with five goals each.

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