NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Christopher Ruhr scored a hat-trick as Germany thrashed Pakistan 6-1 in their Pool ‘A’ match of the Hero FIH Junior Men’s World Cup at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here on Saturday.

Besides Ruhr, Lukas Windfeder, Alexander Schollkopf and Niklas Bruns netted a goal each to keep alive Germany’s quarter-final hopes.

In another Pool ‘A’ match earlier in the day, Belgium, who yesterday stunned defending champions Germany 3-1, continued to dominate as they blanked Egypt 5-0.

The Germans took the lead in the second minute through a field goal by Ruhr. They doubled the margin in the 10th minute when Windfeder converted a penalty corner.

Pumped up by the early goals, Ruhr netted the ball twice in a gap of eight minutes in the 18th and 26th minute to take the upper hand.

Pakistan, who survived a late scare before prevailing over lowly Egypt 3-2 in their tournament opener yesterday, continued to look off-colour against their formidable opponents and did not help their cause when Muhammad Arslan Qadir picked up a red card.

The second-half saw some resistance from Pakistan, but Germany calmly waited for their time to strike. They kept pushing up the pace and successfully overwhelmed their opponents to further extend the lead in the 59th minute when Schollkopf converted a penalty corner. Ten minutes later, Bruns netted the ball through a field goal to make it 6-0.

Pakistan scored a consolation goal in the final second of the match, in fact just at the final hooter, when Shakeel Ammad Butt converted a penalty corner to reduce the margin.

Germany and are now second in the pool ahead of Pakistan on goal difference.

Earlier, Belgium became the first team to secure a quarter-final berth with a crushing win over Egypt to top the pool with six points.

After a goalless first-half, Belgium opened the scoring when Alexander Hendrickx beat goalkeeper Wael Noureldin on a 38th minute penalty corner. Mathew Cobbaert added another goal ten minutes later before Hendrickx scored his second to take his side to 3-0 lead via a 51st minute penalty corner.

Belgium were on a roll and skipper Cobbaert scored his second goal three minutes later before Hendrickx completed his hat-trick in the 66th minute with a penalty stroke.—Agencies