Thanks to a 3-2 win over India (FIH-6), the Young Red Panthers, the Belgian women’s U-21 team, qualified for the quarter-finals of the Junior Hockey World Cup by finishing first in Group C on Saturday. in Santiago, Chile.

To fight for a place in the top four, the young Belgian team ranked 11th in the world will meet on Wednesday (20:30 local time, 00:30 Belgian time) with the team ranked 2nd in Group D, possibly the United States (FIH -5) or Japan (FIH -15).

Noa Schreurs opened the scoring in the 5th minute, but the European vice champion then had to wait until the 42nd minute to realize his dominance, through France De Mot in the penalty corner (pc) phase.

In the final quarter, the Indian team, semifinalists of the last World Cup in South Africa, narrowed their gap on pc and one shot, both converted by Annu (47 and 51). In Belgium’s 6th and final match, De Mot again struck, handled by Astrid Bonami, who took the opportunity to score her 6th goal of the tournament (joint top scorer with Annu).

Darran Bisley and Gilles Verdussen’s protégés finished the group stage unbeaten, after previous big successes 6-0 over Germany (FIH-3) and 8-0 over Canada (FIH-18). With 9 points (15 goals scored and 2 conceded), they are ahead of India and Germany (3 points). The latter dropped just one point in the upcoming match against Canada to grab the 2nd qualifying ticket in Group C for the quarterfinals. Canada is eliminated.

Access to the top four would be a first at this level for the Young Red Panthers, whose best finish at the World Juniors remains 6th in 2016, which already took place in Santiago, Chile.