All You Want to Know About Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup

November 22, 2021December 7, 2021 admin

Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup used to be held every three years for the first three editions since the inaugural edition at Versailles, France in 1979 – after the 1985 edition at Vancouver, Canada, the big-ticket event was held every four years

Pakistan won the inaugural Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup beating West Germany 2-0 in the final – Jan Muhammad and Mohammad Rashid were the two goal scorers

Germany holds the record for scoring most number of goals in a single Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – 43 Goals at the 1985 edition at Vancouver

India holds the record of scoring the first goal of the inaugural 1979 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup via Syed Jalaluddin in the 18th minute versus Malaysia in the opening tie – Malaysia rebounded and struck twice to win the match 2-1

Australia went into the 2001 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup at Hobart as reigning champions but they suffered a shocking 1-1 draw against lowly Ireland in their tournament opener
Among African nations Egypt featured in the Junior Men’s World Cups on most occasions – 9 times (1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2016, 2021)
India is the only country to win the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup as host nation in 2016 at Lucknow

The winners of the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup are awarded the Roger Danet trophy – a trophy instituted by the French Hockey Federation (the hosts of the inaugural Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup) in memory of its former president

6 countries have featured in the Junior Men’s World Cup only once – Ghana (1979), Kenya (1982), Zimbabwe (1985), Ireland (2001), Mexico (2005) and Austria (2016)

India’s Deepak Thakur scored a hat-trick in a span of six minutes in India’s thumping 6-1 final win over Argentina in the 2001 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup at Hobart, Australia

Pakistan have given the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup a miss on 2 occasions – 2001 and 2016 editions

Inaugural 1979 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup did not have any representation from the Oceania continent – Australia & New Zealand did not take part

Germany is the only European side to win the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – no other European nation – Netherlands, Spain, England etc have won it so far

Malaysia was a replacement team for the 2016 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup after FIH withdrew Pakistan’s participation after they failed to receive necessary confirmations from them

India holds the record for scoring the biggest win of the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – beating Singapore 13-0 in the 1982 edition at Kuala Lumpur

Only two nations – Germany and Netherlands have taken part in all 11 editions of Junior Men’s World Cup

Egypt, Singapore and Mexico are only nations to suffered double-digit scoreline defeats on 2 occasions – Egypt 1-10 to Germany & 0-10 to Netherlands, Singapore 0-13 & 0-10 to India, Mexico 0-12 and 0-11 to England and South Korea

Netherlands despite its rich hockey legacy have never won the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – its best performances were – runners-up finished in the 1985 and 2009 editions at Vancouver and Johor Bahru respectively

Mexico’s only Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup appearance ended in misery as they held the dubious record of conceding the most number of goals in a single Junior World Cup – 50 Goals in the 2005 edition at Rotterdam

Two Indian players – Deepak Thakur and Diwakar Ram have scored two hat-tricks in a single Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – Deepak Thakur achieved it against Scotland (7-1 win) and Argentina (6-1 win) in the 2001 edition, while Diwakar attained it against Singapore (10-0 win) and England (9-0 win) in the 2009 edition

Germany have scored most number of goals in all editions of Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – 290 goals across 11 editions

The 1989 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup final between West Germany and Australia was the only instance when the contest went into a shootout, where Germany had the last laugh after both teams were tied 1-1 in regulation time

India’s 5-6 loss to Spain in a shootout for the bronze medal at the 2005 edition at Rotterdam attracted a fair deal of controversy – India were done in by an umpiring blunder in the 65th minute when a goal by V Raja, who deflected a Sandeep Singh free hit, was disallowed. Umpire Nathan Stagno of Gibraltar first awarded a goal to India but later reversed his decision after the Spanish players surrounded Stagno and disputed the decision. Stagno consulted his colleague Erik Klein-Nagelvoort (Holland) and then reversed his decision to award a 16-yard hit to Spain.

India took a comfortable 3-0 half-time lead against Germany in the semifinals of the 1997 Junior Men Hockey World Cup semifinal – the Germans struck twice in the second half but not quite enough to alter the final outcome

Pakistan’s Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup win in the inaugural edition in 1979 remains their only triumph – they had finished runners-up in their only other final appearance at the 1993 edition in Terrassa, Spain when they had lost to Germany 1-3

Only instance of Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup being hosted by 2 nations – Malaysia and Singapore in 2009

Malaysia missed the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup only once in the 1997 edition

India have faced Pakistan only once at the 2013 edition in a classification tie where India lost 2-4 in shootout after both teams were locked 1-1 in regulation time

Germany have won the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup on most occasions – six times (1982, 1985, 1989, 1993, 2009, 2013)

Indian forward Tushar Khandekar suffered a personal tragedy – his father had passed away in Indore before the start of the 2005 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup tournament held at Rotterdam. The Indian team was then training at Frankfurt but Tushar rushed to Indore to attend his father’s funeral, and three days later, was back in Rotterdam to play for India

Pakistan and Germany have won the Junior Men Hockey World Cup bronze medal most times – thrice – Pakistan (1982, 1985, 1989) and Germany (1997, 2001, 2016)
First instance of two African countries featuring in the Junior Men’s World Cup – 1985 edition – Egypt and Zimbabwe

Australia’s Colin Hennessy holds the record for scoring most goals in a single Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – 15 Goals at the 2005 edition in Rotterdam

Pakistan is the only side to hold the unique feat of winning the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup bronze medal on three consecutive occasions – 1982, 1985 and 1989 editions

France – the hosts of the 979 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – finished 7^th in the inaugural edition

India’s 6-1 final win over Argentina in the 2001 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup is the biggest victory margin in any final

The 2009 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup witnessed maximum participation – as many as 20 nations took part

Chile and Argentina are only South American nations to have played in the Junior Men’s World Cup
India finished 5th for 3 consecutive times in 1979, 1982 and 1985 editions

Belgium senior hockey team – the current World, Olympic and Pro Hockey League champions had finished last in the 1997 Junior Men Hockey World Cup in England

England have been part of 9 Junior Men’s World Cups since 1985, but they have never been able to achieve a podium finish
Australia have been runners-up on most occasions – 3 times (1982, 1989, 2005)

India’s Mohinder Pal Singh was the top goal-scorer with 12 goals at the 1982 edition in Kuala Lumpur although India finished 5^th

Germany is the only side to retain the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup four times – 1985, 1989, 1993, 2013

Only occasion when 5 Asian nations played in the Junior Men’s World Cup – 2009 edition – India, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan

Australia who finished runners-up at the 1982 edition, actually did not qualify for this World Cup, but made it to it as the first substitute, as the qualified Ireland pulled out

Canada holds the dubious feat of settling for the wooden spoon (finishing last) in the Junior Men Hockey World Cup 3 times (2001, 2013, 2016)

The 1982 edition was for the first time that the Junior Men Hockey World Cup was played on artificial turf

Argentina is the only South American nation to win the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup in the 2005 edition beating Australia 2-1 in the final

Malaysia and India have hosted the Junior Men Hockey World Cup most times – 3 times (Malaysia 1982, 1989, 2009 & India 2013, 2016, 2021)

India is the only nation to host the Junior Men Hockey World Cup for 3 consecutive times

European hockey powerhouse Spain have managed only one podium finish in the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup – a bronze at the 2005 edition in Rotterdam

France dished out a giant-killing run at the 2016 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup when they shocked much fancied sides such as Spain (4-3), Argentina (3-2) Belgium (5-4) to make its maiden final appearance where they lost to Germany