Men’s Hockey: India, Germany share points

New Delhi: India held Germany to a 2-2 draw in a high voltage encounter at the three-nations invitational hockey tournament in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Saturday.

Mandeep Singh and Sardar Singh scored for India while Niklas Wellen first reduced the margin and Tobias Hauke got the equaliser.

With both Germany and India losing their first matches to Belgium, this was going to be a closely contested match and neither team disappointed.

India goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya was kept busy in the first quarter with Germany winning their first penalty corner in the fourth minute but Dahiya did well to come up with an impressive save. In the 12th minute, India went close when forwards S.V. Sunil and Ramandeep Singh worked into the striking circle but Ramandeep’s deflection went wide.

Soon after, Germany found success when Wellen deflected the ball in to give Germany a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute.

The third quarter belonged to India. First Mandeep Singh struck to give India the equaliser in the 45th minute followed almost immediately by a piece of Sardar magic that capped some inspired dribbling.

Seven minutes into the fourth quarter, the hosts drew level with Hauke on target. Akash Chikte made a great save in the dying minutes of the match to keep Germany at bay.

India play their next match on Monday against Belgium at 6.30 pm (Indian Standard Time).

On Thursday, India squandered a one-goal lead to go down 1-2 to Belgium in their opening match.

Despite a 1-0 lead in the third quarter from a splendid penalty corner conversion from Harmanpreet Singh, India conceded two goals in the final quarter to lose the match late on Friday.

For Belgium, Cedric Charlier (52nd minute) and Tom Boon (55th minute) netted the ball.