Chennai, 7 December. Hosts India’s challenge at the FIH Hockey Junior Men’s World Cup was shattered on Sunday as defending champions Germany registered a convincing 5-1 victory in a one-sided semi-final to secure their place in the final for the 10th time.

Germany, which became champions for the seventh time after defeating France in Kuala Lumpur two years ago, launched a barrage of attacks from the beginning against the two-time former winners, who last won the title on home turf (Lucknow) in 2016, at the Meyer Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium here and by the end of the third quarter, they had a 4-0 lead in their account.

India’s only goal was scored by Anmol Ekka in the last quarter.

Lucas Cosell, who scored two goals for Germany, converted a penalty stroke in the 14th minute and hit a short corner just before half-time. Apart from them, Titus Weks (15th minute), Yonas Gersam Won (40th minute) and Ben Hassbach (49th minute) scored one goal each. In the last quarter, India could show some strength by earning two consecutive short corners in the 50th minute and Anmol Ekka scored the only goal from the second penalty corner.

Spain reached the final for the first time and will give title competition to Germany on Wednesday

Germany will now play Spain for their eighth title in the 14th edition of the competition on Wednesday (December 10), having reached the final for the first time with a thrilling 2-1 victory over two-time former champions Argentina in a tough semi-final. And before the title match, India will face Argentina for the bronze medal.

In other classification matches played today, Belgium defeated defending champions France 3-2 and secured a place in the classification match for fifth-sixth place. Belgium will now play the Netherlands, who defeated New Zealand 6-3, on December 10. New Zealand will face France in the classification match for the seventh-eighth places.