In the FIH Pro League, India defeated Germany in the first match. Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored one and Sukhjit Singh scored two goals for India.
Image credit source: hockey india
New Delhi. Indian hockey team FIH Pro League Started off with a win. This was Team India’s first match after the disappointing performance of the World Cup and here they came back with a resounding victory. In its very first match, Team India created a big upset by defeating world champion Germany. India has made many changes in its team for this league. In the match against Germany, 26-year-old Sukhjit scored two goals. He scored field goals in the 31st and 42nd minutes.
India took a 3–0 lead by the 42nd minute before Paul Philipp Kaufmann and Michael Struthoff scored for Germany in the 44th and 57th minutes respectively. Many players from the World Cup-winning team were present in the German team, who were seen struggling to score goals from the penalty corner. Germany got six penalty corners while India got four penalty corners. The visitors started off brilliantly and earned five consecutive penalty corners in the 10th minute but India kept their composure and defended well in all of them.
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Harmanpreet Singh gave the edge
Striker Abhishek’s effort in the circle at the end of the second quarter gave India the momentum they were striving for. Earlier, the efforts of striker Gurjant Singh and Dilpreet Singh were thwarted by Germany goalkeeper Alexander Stadler. Just before half time, the home team got their first penalty corner and Harmanpreet gave her team a 1-0 lead with a brilliant effort.
With this lead, India made an aggressive start in the third quarter. Sukhjit scored the second goal for India in the 31st minute on a brilliant pass by Germanpreet Singh. Then after 11 minutes, Sukhjeet scored again. Sukhjeet scored his second goal of the match with the help of talented youngster S Karthi on Manpreet Singh’s long pass. After this, India kept the German attack away. But the visiting team managed to score at the end of the third quarter thanks to Paul Philippe.
India did a great defense in the last minute
In the final moments of the match, India played a brilliant defense in which Germany brought out their goalkeeper and included an extra player in their attack. Germany scored their second goal two minutes before the end of the match thanks to Michael, who assisted Hannes Müller. In the last minute of the match, India got a penalty stroke but Harmanpreet could not convert it, giving India three points with a 3-2 victory. India will now face Australia on Sunday while the second leg match against Germany will be held on Monday.
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