Raipur, 28th Nov 2015: Host nation India thrilled the fans by holding reigning Olympic champions and Pool B rivals Germany to a 1-1 draw in the third match of Day 2 at the Hero Hockey World League Final 2015, currently taking place in Raipur, India.
For the second evening in succession, a large, passion-fuelled crowd turned out to cheer on the home team and were rewarded with a very good display from India, who rediscovered form following their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Argentina on Friday evening.
Germany were the first team to strike, with an unmarked Niklas Wellen finishing from close range just six minutes into the match.
India battled brilliantly throughout, and came close to grabbing a leveller when Rupinder Pal Singh rattled the frame of the goal with a penalty corner before the equalizer came in the fourth quarter. Akashdeep Singh was the scorer, showing great skill to collect a pass before firing home with a backhand strike.
“We made far fewer unforced errors today than we did yesterday”, said India Head Coach Roleant Oltmans in the post-match press conference, referring to his team’s loss against Argentina. “Sometimes you need a result like that to show the way to play. I’m proud of the way we played, and this is where the tournament starts for us.”
Germany’s Head Coach Valentin Altenburg was not satisfied with his team’s performance, saying: “India played their game very well and we did not. The performance today is an issue, the result I don’t really care about. We will try to get better.”
Hero Man of the Match: Sardar Singh (IND)
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