For the second time via the FIH Pro League, the Indian men bounced back from defeat to register a hard-fought 1-0 win in opposition to Germany on the Kalinga Stadium right here on Wednesday. The ladies, nevertheless, slid additional, dropping by the identical margin to Spain for his or her third defeat in a row.
The scoreline within the men’s recreation may point out a lack of motion, however it was something however that. The experiment with personnel continued as Manpreet Singh and Abhishek Nain had been rested whereas Harmanpreet Singh and Hardik Singh returned. However, Fulton’s tactical play ensured the Germans wouldn’t have a free run of the sector like they did on Tuesday.
Harmanpreet’s free hit from outdoors the circle within the fourth minute was intercepted by Rajinder Singh — among the many most spectacular of kids within the competitors to this point — who put an unmarked Gurjant Singh via for the match’s solely purpose. Rajinder, with his clever sense of positioning and impeccable passing on the best, has been instrumental in a lot of the objectives scored by India.
A tighter defence and zonal marking reduce down the house out there for the Germans to assault. The tackling was cleaner, with Nilam Sanjeep Xess and Yashdeep Siwach reducing down angles from the flanks to advance.
Despite seven penalty corners, Germany and Gonzalo Peillat had been unable to seek out a method to get previous Krishan Pathak and Suraj Karkera, each goalkeepers bringing off a sequence of spectacular saves to disclaim them.
With Manpreet lacking, Hardik moved into an attacking midfield function and repeatedly created possibilities. India got here shut on a variety of events, however Alexander Stadler within the German purpose stood agency, together with a double save within the forty fourth minute from Gurjant and Vivek Prasad.
The Spanish men, in the meantime, avenged their shootout defeat within the earlier recreation with a 4-1 win in opposition to England, scoring as soon as in every quarter.
It was a lacklustre efficiency from the Indian ladies, who had been good defensively however barely managed to register their presence upfront. They had a grand complete of two penalty corners — each unsuccessful — and hardly any makes an attempt on the purpose in any other case because the Spaniards stored pushing exhausting.
Nine wasted PCs however, it was a Spanish present all the best way, with captain Marta Segu deservedly scoring the winner within the forty ninth minute. She managed the ball single-handedly all the best way from the halfline and slotted in between Savita’s legs for the winner.
The outcomes: Men: Spain 4 (Joaquin Menini 9, Borja Lacalle 28, Pepe Cunill 37, Nicolas Alvarez 49) bt England 1 (Matthew Ramshaw 50), India (Gurjant Singh 4) bt Germany 0.
Women: Spain (Marta Segu 49) bt India 0.
Published – February 19, 2025 09:39 pm IST
