Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India]: England became the eighth and final team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the ongoing Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup 2016 after they clinched a crushing 6-0 win over Canada in their group clash at the Major Dhyan Chand Astroturf Stadium here last evening.
The 6-0 score-line, in which Edward Horler scored a hat-trick, confirmed a second-place finish in Pool D which sets up a last eight meeting against reigning Champions Germany, the winners of Pool C.
Meanwhile, Pool A winners Australia face a huge clash with Pool B runners up Netherlands, while Pool D winners India and Pool C’s second-placed Spain will also go head-to-head. Belgium taking on Argentina will be another fascinating quarter-final encounter.
The Pool D meeting between England and Canada was the first match of Day 6, with the English side producing a dominant performance to confirm a quarter-final berth. Will Calnan and Edward Horler both scored twice in the first half to take the score to 4-0, with Horler completing his hat-trick with his third penalty corner effort of the day in the 46th minute. A superb backhand volley from Christopher Proctor in 54th minute finished the match scoring.
The pool phase was ended by Australia, who made it three wins from three matches in Lucknow with a 5-0 triumph over Pool A opponents Korea. The Koreans managed to keep the Burras off the score-sheet for 25 minutes before Frazer Gerrard slammed home a penalty corner, with Blake Govers netting a quick-fire double just before half time to take the score to 3-0. Max Hendry and Kiran Arunasalam completed for an Australian team determined to land their first Junior Hockey World Cup title since 1997.(ANI)