In what turned out to be a brilliant comeback from the Olympic gold medallists, Germany came from two goals down to play out a draw as India squandered a great start to lose the momentum in the final three minutes.
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A dress rehearsal for the Rio Games, the elite tournament also includes Australia, Great Britain, Korea and Belgium.
Day two at the men’s Hero Hockey Champions Trophy 2016 saw Australia and India move marginally clear at the top of the league table thanks to important victories, while Germany were forced to fight back from two goals down for the second successive day to earn a draw at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
VR Raghunath put India in the lead after converting a penalty corner in the seventh minute.
Harmanpreet has scored a penalty corner and a penalty stroke, while Raghunath struck in the first game against the Germans.
Manpreet Singh and Danish Mujtaba completed their 150th match for India. Out of Belgium’s 10 wins over India, six have come since 2011, when they began a remarkable rise into world’s top five nations. SV Sunil is very good form and with his speed, he has been assisting the central strikers with numerous inroads into the rival circle. Mandeep Singh and Harmanpreet Singh scored the goals for India, while Ashley Jackson scored for the hosts. Other forwards in the squad are Nikkin Thimmiah and Talwinder singh. “They have given me a nice surprise”, said Oltmans, who has rested several senior players with the aim of providing top-quality exposure to the juniors before picking the Indian side for the Olympic Games.
“I think we are in a good way”. “That for me is the most important thing, that the team is getting better and in the end they showed a good performance today”.
This edition of the Champions Trophy returns to the old format of six teams competing in round-robins and the top two teams advancing to the final.
A torrential rainstorm made conditions unplayable and delayed the restart by over 30 minutes, but when the match eventually resumed, Germany soon found themselves 4-2 down.
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In Boon’s absence, the Belgians have leaned heavily upon captain John-John Dohmen, and key players Sebastian Dockier and Arthur van Doren.
