India Hold Germany To 1-1 Draw In 3Rd Match Of HWL Final

28 November,Raipur

Hosts 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 two at the Hockey World League Final 2015, currently being played at the Sardar Vallavbhai Patel stadium here tonight.

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 last 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 teams loss against Argentina.

Sometimes you need a result like that to show the way to play. I am proud of the way we played, and this is where the tournament starts for us.Germanys Head Coach Valentin Altenburg was not satisfied with his teams performance, saying India played their game very well and we did not. The performance today is an issue, the result I dont really care about. We will try to get better. Indian captain Sardar Singh was adjudged the man-of-the-match