South Africa finish 9th, Pakistan end campaign on 11th spot in Jr Hockey WC

Bhubaneswar, Dec 4 (PTI) South Africa defeated Korea 4-0 to finish ninth at the ongoing FIH Junior Men's Hockey World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday.

South Africa completely dominated the proceedings in the ninth-10th place classification match.

They scored four goals after a barren first two quarters through penalty corner conversions by skipper Guy Morgan (35th, 47th minutes), Trevor de Lora (47th) and Zenani Kraai (53rd) to register their best finish in the premier junior hockey tournament.

Before that match, Pakistan juniors showcased their talent to thrash Poland 5-0 and finished 11th in the competition.

For Pakistan, erstwhile Asian powerhouse, Rizwan Ali (2nd, 6th) converted two penalty corners, while Moin Shakeel (22nd), skipper Abdul Rana (30th) and Muhammad Hammadudin (43rd) were the other goal scorers.

Earlier in the day, Canada defeated Chile 2-1 in a classification match to finish in the 13th position. Canada scored two field goals through John Jacoby (40th minute) and Tanvir Kang (52nd minute) to eke out the narrow win in the 13th-14th place play-off game. Chile's lone goal was scored by Agustin Amoroso from a penalty corner in the 57th minute.

In the other classification match, former India player Harendra Singh-coached USA beat Egypt 3-0 via a penalty shoot-out to avoid the wooden spoon and end their campaign on the 15th spot.

The match went into shoot-out after USA made a remarkable comeback in the final quarter from being 0-2 down to draw level.

Tymen Kloen starred for the Americans by scoring two goals in the 53rd and 60th minute to keep his side's hopes alive.

Egypt's both goals were scored by Abdelrahman Elganayni in the first and 24th minutes.

In the shoot-out, USA scored through Kloen, Finlay Quaile and Jaton Sharma while Egypt missed their first three attempts to hand the Americans their first win in the tournament. PTI SSC SSC AT AT