Indian men’s hockey team came from a goal down to settle for a 2-2 draw against Germany in a high-voltage match of the three-nation Invitational Tournament in Belgium on Saturday.
Niklas Wellen gave Germany the lead in the 13th minute before Mandeep Singh and the talismanic Sardar Singh struck the board in quick time to hand India the lead. But the experienced Tobias Hauke came to the home team’s rescue and scored the equaliser in the 52nd minute.
With both India and Germany losing their first match against Belgium, there was no doubt that this was going to be a closely contested match and neither of the teams disappointed. Both India and Germany raced out of their blocks at a frenetic pace, attacking each other constantly from the word go.
Indian goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya was kept busy by the mighty Germans in the first quarter. The hosts earned their first penalty corner in the fourth minute but Dahiya did well to come up with an impressive save and deny the Germans an early lead.
Soon after, though, Germany found success when Wellen launched the ball into the Indian goal. In the second quarter, an in-form Wellen came close to scoring his second goal of the match. It was an open goal with no Indian defender posing a threat but his flick was off target with the ball going over the post.
The third quarter, however, belonged to India as they made amends to get ahead of Germany. First it was young sensation Mandeep Singh who scored with an impressive strike to equalise for India in the 45th minute. Soon after, Sardar wielded magic with his inspiring dribbling abilities to carry the ball into the circle and successfully take a shot on goal.
With a crucial 2-1 lead, India pushed hard to stay ahead of Germany but seven minutes into the fourth quarter the hosts equalised through Hauke’s strike.
With just five minutes left for the final hooter, both teams pressed hard for the winner and India’s reserve goalkeeper Akash Chikte made a great save in the dying minutes of the match to save the day for his side.
India face Belgium in their next outing on Monday.
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