India thump Canada in hockey, enter last 8

BUENOSAIRES: The India under-18 men’s hockey team secured a berth in the quarter-finals of the Youth Olympic Games as they beat Canada 5-2 in their fifth and last Pool B match held here at the Parque Polideportivo Roca on Thursday.

Sanjay (4’, 17’), Shivam Anand (7’), Sudeep Chirmako (10’) and Rahul Kumar Rajbhar (17’) scored in India’s victory which saw them finish at the second spot in Pool B, while it was Rowan Childs (15’, 16’) who scored twice for Canada.

Earlier, India endured a medal-less outing after the gold rush of the previous three days as rising table tennis player Archana Kamath went down in the bronze medal match here.

Kamath, who became the first Indian paddler to enter the semifinals of Youth Olympics, gave her all against Romania’s Andreea Dragoman before losing 11-8, 11-13, 9-11, 5-11, 9-11 in the semi-final played on Wednesday night (wee hours of Thursday in India).

The Indian under-18 women’s hockey team suffered its first loss of the Youth Olympics’ five-a-side competition, going down 2-5 to hosts Argentina.

After three successive wins, India lost the toughest match they played in the event.

The Indian team will face South Africa in its fifth match of the competition.

Swimmer Advait Page too disappointed in Heat 3, finishing seventh.