India’s defenders squandered a two-goal lead as Olympic champions Germany clawed their way back to earn a 3-3 draw on the opening day of the 36th Champions Trophy hockey tournament in London on Friday.
Enjoying the lead for most part of the encounter, the Indian defence wilted under late Germany pressure to concede the equaliser to Germany just three minutes before the hooter at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre.
Jonas Gomoll converted a 57th minute penalty stroke with a deft flick to save Germany the blushes after they had trailed behind the Indians.
From the moment VR Raghunath converted the first Indian penalty corner in the sixth minute, India had enjoyed the lead throughout, except for one minute when Germany equalised in the first quarter.
Goals from Mandeep Singh (26th minute) and Harmanpreet Singh (32nd) gave India a 3-1 lead, but Germany forced a series of penalty corners against a shaky Indian defence. Two penalty corner conversions by Tom Grambusch in the 25th and 36th minute kept Germany in the contest before Gomoll’s penalty stroke restored parity.
Manpreet Singh and Danish Mujtaba completed their 150th match for India. Manpreet made his debut in 2011 and and Mujtaba made his debut in 2009.
Both of the the players were part of the silver medal winning team in the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and the Bronze medal winning team in Hero Hockey World League Final in 2015.
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