~India finishes 10th in the tournament~
Santiago, Chile, December 12, 2025: The Indian junior women’s hockey team went down 1-2 to Spain in the 9th/10th place play-off match in the FIH Hockey Junior Women’s World Cup 2025 at the Centro Deportivo de Hockey Césped, Estadio Nacional, Santiago. Kanika Siwach (41′) was the scorer for India, while Natalia Vilanova (16′) and Esther Canales (36′) scored a goal each for Spain.
It was a cagey but entertaining first quarter with intense action and chances at both ends of the pitch. Midway through the quarter, Spain were through on target and only had to beat the goalkeeper, but Indian Nidhi stepped out heroically and made two back-to-back saves to keep the scores level. In the 14th minute, Spain were awarded the first penalty corner of the match, which was again denied by Nidhi.
In the opening moments of the second quarter, Spain launched a swift counter-attack as Sara Carmona Ramos expertly dribbled around the circle and played a pass inside, successfully deflected by Natalia Vilanova (16′) into the net to claim the lead. India had a few good chances in the following minutes, but Spain made hardly any mistakes and did not concede a single penalty corner to maintain their lead.
In the 36th minute, India had a brief moment of celebration as Sonam did well to intercept a pass and score with a powerful strike, but Spain took a video referral which was successful when the referee spotted a back stick and had to cancel the goal. Unfortunately for India, Spain won in the same minute, converting a penalty corner thanks to a tap-in from Esther Canales (36′), increasing their lead to two goals. In the 41st minute, India won two consecutive penalty corners as Kanika Siwach (41′) beat the Spanish goalkeeper with her shot and scored a goal for India to reduce the deficit and cap an eventful third quarter.
In their final quarter of the tournament, India turned up the intensity, going up in numbers and giving everything to create maximum chances and test the Spanish goalkeeper. They came extremely close to scoring again when Ishika unleashed a powerful backhand shot that beat the goalkeeper, but was stopped by a defender on the goal line, denying India an equalizer. Then Spain fell back and made sure they defended their slim lead until the clock ran out.
With this result, India finished 10th in the overall rankings of the 2025 FIH Hockey Junior Women’s World Cup.