Chennai, Dec 7 (IANS) Indian Junior Men's Hockey Team faced a 1-5 loss against defending champions Germany in the semifinal of the FIH Hockey Men's Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025.

Anmol Ekka (51') scored for India while Lukas Kossel (14', 30'), Titus Wex (15'), Jonas von Gersum (40') and Ben Hasbach (49') were the goalscorers for Germany.

Germany started the first quarter strong, as they were aggressive in their press, forcing India to play in their own half. India initially did well to sustain the pressure and build from the back however, they couldn't create a clear opportunity on goal.

In the third minute itself, Germany were through on goal as Justus Warweg made a strong interception in a dangerous area however, Indian goalkeeper Princedeep Singh did well to step out and make an incredible save early on.

In the 14th minute, Germany won the first Penalty Corner as Quirin Nahr took a shot which was stopped by Ankit Pal's body right in front of goal and the visitors were awarded a Penalty Stroke. The stroke was successfully converted by Lukas Kossel (14') as Germany gained a crucial lead.

Just a minute later, India conceded another unfortunate goal as Titus Wex's (15') pass inside the circle, met an unlucky deflection off of Sunil Palakshappa Bennur's foot as the ball rolled into the goal to end the first quarter.

India did well to regroup and improve their overall gameplay in the second quarter. They held more possession of the ball, controlled the midfield a lot better and made some crucial circle entries however, they couldn't test the German goalkeeper.

Right before half time, Germany won their second Penalty Corner of the evening which was successfully converted by Lukas Kossel (30') again as he slotted the ball into the bottom left corner to further add to Germany's advantage.

India's first good attempt on goal came in the 34th minute as Ajeet Yadav did well to beat two German defenders with his skill and took a powerful shot towards goal but goalkeeper Jasper Ditzer made a strong save to deny India a goal.

Two minutes later, Germany won another Penalty Corner but this time, Captain Paul Glander's flick went off-target. In the 40th minute Indian attacker Arshdeep Singh made a strong dribble on the left flank and made his way along the baseline with his 3D skills but couldn't get past the charging German goalkeeper.

Seconds later, Jannik Enaux dribbled down the middle and passed it ahead to Alec von Schwerin through the Indian defence as he chipped the ball past the Indian goalkeeper towards goal and Jonas von Gersum (40') tapped it into the open net to claim Germany's fourth goal.

Four minutes into the fourth quarter, Germany played a long aerial pass over the Indian defence to Ben Hasbach (49') as he dribbled around Princedeep Singh and scored.

Moments later, India won their first Penalty Corner and successfully converted it to score their first goal. After the injection, Captain Rohit played a smart pass to Anmol Ekka (51'), catching the German players off guard as he took a powerful shot and found the net.

Germany fell back onto their defence for the remainer of the game as India did their best to find one more, but couldn't make a breakthrough again.

Next up, India will face Argentina in the 3rd/4th place match on Wednesday.

--IANS

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