Indian women snap losing streak with narrow win against Germany

Deepika scored the winning goal for India against Germany in the FIH Hockey Pro League in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT

On Friday, Indian women’s coach Harendra Singh had insisted that his girls were good enough to beat Germany but had faltered in crucial areas. On Saturday, they appeared to have finally listened to the coach and, in the process, won 1-0 for their first win over their opponents in regulation time in 10 years.

The Indian men, meanwhile, continued their winning run with a 4-0 victory against Ireland at the Kalinga Stadium to climb to fourth spot on the table in the FIH Pro League.

It was the Indian women’s second win in the tournament and with the Netherlands up next, would hopefully help the team morale and momentum. There was an urgency to India’s game and it paid off when Deepika sounded the board in the 12th minute, converting the team’s first and one of only two PCs.

India could have doubled the lead in the 24th minute but an unmarked Sharmila Devi in a one-on-one situation shot straight to the goalkeeper. It was only one of the several moments when the Indians outplayed the Germans.

But the stars were in the midfield — wrenching possession, fighting for space and cutting off German advances — and an immovable Bichu Devi in the goal, bringing off save after save both off PCs and open play to deny the opponent. The result also helped India get off the bottom and, in the long run, the three points might prove crucial.

In the other women’s game, England put up a much better display, specially in the midfield and defence, and still ended up losing 6-0 to the Netherlands.

For the men, Craig Fulton made six changes to the line-up from the previous game but the end result was the same, India dominating proceedings right from the start and controlling the game. The trio of Angad Bir Singh, Dilpreet Singh and Araijeet Singh Hundal kept up the pressure upfront while Hardik and Manpreet Singh took charge in the middle. The Indians did not allow the Irish to venture anywhere close to their circle, the latter managing only two entries that produced little.

The results: Women: The Netherlands 6 (Marijn Veen 2, Joosje Burg 35, Fay van der Elst 39, Felice Albers 45, Frederique Matla 50, Eline Jansen 54) bt England 0, India 1 (Deepika 12) bt Germany 0; Men: India 4 (Nilam Sanjeep Xess 14, Mandeep Singh 24, Abhishek 28, Shamsher Singh 34) bt Ireland 0.