South Africa wrapped up their group stage campaign at the Junior World Cup with a tough loss to China, at the Centro Deportivo de Hockey Césped in Santiago, Chile in South America, on Saturday, 6 December 2025.
It was always going to be a challenging task, knowing that anything less than a win would place them in the bottom half of the tournament.
China showed their intent from the very first whistle, exerting complete control early on to create a stream of chances and forcing the South Africans into deep defensive work.
To their credit, the African Champions hung on superbly. There were spirited defensive efforts across the pitch and a handful of outstanding saves from Richele Norval, who kept her team in the contest.
South Africa struggled to create anything of real substance going forward, and the pressure eventually told.
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China opened the scoring from a penalty corner just before the break, a frustrating blow after such a determined and disciplined first half effort, when Lihang Wang broke the deadlock going into the halftime break.
Eight minutes into the second half, China doubled their advantage when Wang unleashed a thunderous penalty corner strike to claim her second of the match. They added a third not long after when Lei Tan nipped in ahead of Norval and poked home for their only field goal of the game.
China continued to apply pressure in the final quarter and were rewarded again as Dandan Zuo converted another well taken penalty corner, to stretch the lead to four and close out a deserved victory. The defeat leaves South Africa third in Pool D.
Following all results on Saturday, South Africa has been drawn against Uruguay in the nine to sixteen playoff bracket as the third-placed team in their pool, which also sees Japan take on South Korea, and Spain take on Ireland; while Pool D’s Austria fell into the 17-24 playoff bracket, where they will face New Zealand, Chile will take on Zimbabwe, Canada face Malaysia, and Scotland take on Namibia.
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The tournament’s top eight teams continue their medal campaigns, and after a bye on Sunday, defending champs the Netherlands will face England, the USA take on Belgium, Australia see themselves pitted against China, and Germany take on Argentina in their fixtures on Monday.
In their Pool F fixtures, Uruguay faced the United States, South Korea, and New Zealand, scoring seven goals and conceding eight, losing 3-1 to the USA, drawing 3-all vs New Zealand, and beating Korea 3-2, and will constitute stern opposition in South Africa’s hopes to finish in the tournament’s top half.
9-16 Classification Fixtures on Sunday, 7 December, 2025 (All times CAT)
14:00 Uruguay vs South Africa
16:15 Japan vs South Korea
20:45 Spain vs the Republic of Ireland
01:15 India vs Wales
17-24 Classification Fixtures on Sunday, 7 December, 2025 (All times CAT)
18:30 New Zealand vs Austria
01:00 Chile vs Zimbabwe
17-24 Classification Fixtures on Monday, 8 December, 2025 (All times CAT)
14:00 Canada vs Malaysia
15:15 Scotland vs Namibia
Quarter-Final Fixtures on Monday, 8 December, 2025 (All times CAT)
18:30 The Netherlands vs England
20:45 USA vs Belgium
01:00 Australia vs China
01:15 Germany vs Argentina
South Africa’s Pool D Group Results
2 Dec: South Africa 4-1 Austria
4 Dec: South Africa 1-4 England
6 Dec: South Africa 0-4 China
South Africa Playing XI and Bench
2 Leah du Plessis
4 Germarie Spershott
5 Tara Pakendorf
7 Taheera Augousti
9 Anja Tromp
10 Ane Janse van Vuuren (C)
13 Paris-Gail Isaacs
17 Ntsopa Mokoena
19 Hannah Quinton
24 Reabetswe Phume
25 Richele Norval (GK)
Substitutes
6 Jodie Blows
8 Emily Macquet
11 Thabelani Metu
14 Baylee Engelke
16 Nomsa Mzizi
18 Teshawn De la Rey
26 Manisha Desai (GK)
China Playing XI and Bench
40 Mengyao Zhang (GK)
56 Guoting Hao (C)
57 Jingyi Li
63 Lihang Wang
64 Yaxi Luo
66 Qingmiao Feng
67 Zhangting Wu
70 Qingqing Wei
71 Siyu Ming
75 Linyuan Hu
78 Qixiao Wei
Substitutes
42 Keqing Jing
68 Lei Tan
69 Chang Sun
72 Dandan Zuo
73 Hailin Cen (GK)
76 Lizhe Zou
77 Yushuo Nie
The FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup 2025 in Santiago, Chile, from 1 to 13 December, 2025
Pool A
Netherlands
Japan
Chile
Malaysia
Pool B
Argentina
Belgium
Zimbabwe
Wales
Pool C
Germany
India
Ireland
Namibia
Pool D
England
South Africa
China
Austria
Pool E
Australia
Spain
Canada
Scotland
Pool F
United States
Korea
New Zealand
Uruguay
Original Copy: SA Hockey, with editing by gsport
Main Photo Caption: South Africa wrapped up their group stage campaign at the Junior World Cup with a tough loss to China, at the Centro Deportivo de Hockey Césped in Santiago, Chile in South America, on Saturday, 6 December 2025. All Photos: worldsportpics.com/Frank Uijlenbroek via FIH
Photo 2 Caption: After a hard-fought first two quarter without a goal by either team, Lihang Wang broke the deadlock for China a minute before the halftime break.
Photo 2 Caption: The damage would have been much worse had it not been for the sterling defensive work of goalkeeper, Richele Norval.
