Hockey Junior WC 2016: India conquer England 5-3 to inch closer to quarters

India continued their strong show in the ongoing Men's Hockey Junior World Cup 2016 as they beat England 5-3 in their Pool D clash to inch closer to the quarter-finals here at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium last evening.

Buoyed by their win against Canada on the opening day, the Indian boys entertained their supporters in a goal fest to move closer to the last-eight.

After England opened the scoring with Jack Clee's field goal in the 10th minute, India stepped up their game and Parvinder Singh scored the equalizer in the 24th minute. There was no stopping the boys in blue after that as Armaan Qureshi, Harmanpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh, and Varun Kumar penetrated the English defence successfully to give India a 5-1 lead.

The English boys attempted to make a comeback late in the second-half with goals from Will Calnan and Edward Horler, but India secured victory by a 5-3 margin at the close of play.

Mandeep Singh was presented the 'Man of the Match' award by Arvind Kumar Singh Gope, Cabinet Minister, Rural Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

The third day of the tournament also saw plenty of action early on with Korea taking on Austria and Argentina facing off against Australia in Pool A encounters and South Africa playing against Canada in a Pool D match.

In Pool A, Austria made it four points from a possible six with a remarkable 5-2 victory over Korea. Following their surprise draw with Argentina on Friday, the side coached by Cedric D'Souza produced another disciplined performance to emerge on top of the pool.

"When we performed five weeks ago our quality wasn't there, but our preparations and performances here in India have been fantastic", said Austria's Florian Steyrer. "It's unbelievable. The fighting spirit is there, as everyone could see, and now we need to rest and recover before a tough match against Australia."

The Australians kicked off their title challenge with a narrow 2-1 triumph over Argentina, with a late penalty stroke from Blake Govers. With just one point from their opening two matches, Argentina's title challenge is currently hanging in the balance.

Earlier in the day, South Africa kept alive their hopes of a quarter-final berth with a 3-1 win over Canada. Brandon Pereira gave Canada the lead with a well-executed penalty corner, but strikes from Kyle Lion-Cachet, Ryan Crowe and Walter Pfaff ensured that South Africa finished on top.