India beat world champions Germany 3-2 in FIH Pro League

In Hockey, India stunned world champions Germany 3-2 in the FIH Pro League at Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, Odisha on Friday evening. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh had given the home side the lead in the 30th minute through a penalty corner conversion. Sukhjeet Singh’s second-half brace helped India to take an unassailable lead. He scored in the 31st and 42nd minutes and both goals came from field efforts. India were 3-0 up in the 42nd minute before Paul-Philipp Kaufmann and Michel Struthoff struck for Germany in the 44th and 57th minutes respectively. Sukhjeet Singh was adjudged player of the match.

The visitors got off to a strong start with five back-to-back Penalty Corners in the 10th minute but India defended all of them. Harmanpreet, who was retained as captain despite the sacking of head coach Graham Reid after the World Cup, was top-class in his attempt, picking up a good injection by Hardik Singh to fiercely put it away into the right corner of the post, giving India the much-needed 1-0 lead.Apart from stitching together good attacks, with the midfield and forward line in sync, India made some smart referrals that kept the German attack at bay. The visitors, though, managed a goal just before the end of the third quarter when Elian Mazkour set up Paul-Philipp Kaufmann to score.