Gurjant scores as Indian men beat Germany

Women go down to Spain again
BHUBANESWAR: The Indian men's hockey team came back in style to beat Germany 1-0 in their FIH Pro League game at Kalinga Stadium here on Wednesday. But it was disappointment once again for the women as they lost 0-1 to Spain later in the day.
When the two teams faced off on Tuesday, the Indian men's team, playing without Harmanpreet Singh and Hardik Singh, went down to the Germans 1-4 - one of their biggest defeats here. On Wednesday though it was a completely different story as India, with two of their key players back in the squad, put up a defensive masterclass to hold on for a sensational win.
Gurjant Singh put India in the lead as early as the fourth minute after Rajinder Singh played the ball into the D down the middle. Mandeep Singh got a touch to it, but Germany goalkeeper Alexander Stadler did brilliantly to keep it out. However, Gurjant got to the ball first and slammed it into the board.
It was the perfect start, and they held onto the lead despite Germany's best efforts. It was nerve-wracking, especially in the final quarter when the World Champions won four PCs in a matter of minutes after taking away their goalkeeper. But Suraj Karkera in front of the goal along with the defenders kept calm and made sure India came out on top.
Speaking after the match Craig Fulton was more than pleased with how the team was able to hold onto their structure and make it as difficult as possible for the Germans to play their natural game.
"We wanted to make the field smaller so that it is a lot harder for the German runners to run on the outside. That forced them to make more passes and that's what we're good at. And then, we kept our structure, one or two close calls, but then at the same time we got the goal. So that was important," said the India coach.
Besides Karkera, Krishan Bahadur Pathak also had a good game in front of the goal and made some solid saves. India, however, failed to convert from the PCs once again but Fulton believes all their options for PC training are yet to reach full development and they have four more matches to perfect it.
Women lose again: The Indian women's team played their hearts out but it was Spain who prevailed.
For the three quarters, it remained goalless but in the 49th minute, Marta Segu ran more than half the field down the left flank with Sushila Chanu by her side, cut in, and on the run slammed the ball into the bottom-right corner through the legs of Savita standing at the near post. While it was an individual brilliance from Segu, Savita, who had a good game so far, should have done better to keep it out.
India meanwhile failed to take their chances and that irked coach Harendra Singh. "We should have finished it in the second quarter. We had created a good chance, but we went too close to the goalkeeper. I think the final pass inside the D is a worry," opined Harendra. Besides that, India also made a lot of miss-passes that allowed Spain to control the game.
In the other match of the day, the Spanish men's team beat England 4-1.