Six-Nation Hockey Tournament: India take on Germany in opener

In what will be their final assignment ahead of the Rio Olympics, India face 2012 London gold medallists Germany in their opening match of the six-nation men’s hockey tournament in Valencia, on Monday.

India will draw confidence from their silver medal effort in the recent Champions Trophy, where they lost to Australia in the final through a penalty shootout.

The two teams came face-to-face in the Champions Trophy opener too, and played out a 3-3 draw.

In other games, Argentina take on Ireland, while hosts Spain clash with New Zealand.

Said India coach Roelant Oltmans, “I believe our consistency has improved considerably but we need to get better.

“These next six weeks will be crucial in terms of peaking at the right time. When it comes to the Olympics, the big teams like world champions Australia and Germany always raise their bar and I keep reminding this to our players. The level we played in Champions Trophy will not be enough for the Olympics if we are vying for a medal.”

“How we play against Argentina and Germany in the six- nation tournament will set the momentum to achieve our goals at the Olympics. The focus will be to take it game-by-game.”