FIH PRO LEAGUE: Lacklustre Indian men lose to Germany

India were found wanting against a relentless German outfit as they suffered a 1-4 drubbing at the hands of the reigning world champions in their FIH Pro League match here on Tuesday. India were weak in defence and they lacked enough quality in the final third.

Florian Sperling gave Germany the lead with his seventh-minute strike but Gurjant Singh (13th) equalised for India within six minutes. In what proved to be a riveting first quarter, Thies Prinz (14th) restored Germany’s lead a minute later.

After a goalless second and third quarters, Michel Struthoff (48th) and Raphael Hartkopf (55th) scored twice in the fourth and final quarter to power Germany to a convincing win against the Paris Olympics bronze medallists.

Senior defender Amit Rohidas led the Indian team in this match as regular skipper Harmanpreet Singh was not part of the starting XI. It was, however, not clear why the champion drag-flicker did not start. Harmanpreet, though, was also rested for the home team’s second game against Spain.

Women lose to Spain

An unsuccessful fourth and final quarter saw the Indian women’s hockey team go down 3-4 to Spain in a thrilling match to suffer their first defeat of the ongoing FIH Pro League.

Baljeet Kaur (19th), Sakshi Rana (38th) and Rutaja Pisal (45th) scored for India, while Estel Petchame (25th, 49th), Sofia Rogoski (21st) and captain Lucia Jimenez (52nd) netted goals for Spain. Sakshi and Jyoti Singh received their maiden senior international caps with the former scoring an impressive goal on debut.