Indian men's hockey team go down 0-2 against Germany in first match of bilateral series in Delhi

The Indian men's hockey team went down 0-2 against Germany in the first of a two-match series at the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday (October 23).

The Germans veered ahead thanks to an early effort from open play before adding to their tally off a short corner just before halftime. Harmanpreet Singh missed a penalty stroke for the Indians in the second quarter with Joshua Nnaji pulling off an incredible save.

The two teams will face off one more time for the second and final match of the series at the same venue on Thursday.

The Germans, who were without the services of short corner ace Gonzalo Peillat, opened the scoring in the third minute with Henrik Mertgens making the most of an early foray.

Germany had a chance to double the lead with Thies Prinz making his way into the striking circle before the visitors earned a penalty corner in the seventh minute.

The decision was overturned following which the home side earned a short corner a minute later. Varun Kumar failed to get hold of the drag flick as well as he would have liked to.

Craig Fulton's team, who appeared to lack speed and cohesion in the opening quarter, did well to up the ante in the second. A well-worked variation witnessed Sanjay miss the target after Varun Kumar did well to slip one through even as India earned their second short corner.

A third penalty corner came India's way in the 24th minute followed by a retake but Harmanpreet Singh's drag flick was run down by Teo Hinrichs.

Dilpreet Singh managed to get the ball into the back of the net but the Indians were awarded a penalty stroke instead. Harmanpreet Singh failed to score from the spot after the ball was stopped by the German goalkeeper.

Lukas Windfeder converted Germany's second penalty corner at the stroke of halftime to give the world champions a 2-0 lead.

The Indians earned a penalty corner in the 40th minute but Harmanpreet's drag flick was padded away by the German goalkeeper. Harmanpreet took a shot on goal from open play immediately after but missed the target by a whisker.

Indian men's hockey team rekindle age-old rivalry with Germany

Indian Hockey Team Practice Session in Delhi- Source: Getty

The India-Germany rivalry is one of the oldest in world hockey with several classics between the two nations played out ever since the legendary Dhyan Chand scored a hat-trick in the 1936 Olympic final. An 8-1 win for the Indians against the home side in Berlin was just the beginning of an epic rivalry that has now been rekindled.

At Tokyo 2021, the Indian men's hockey team created history by defeating Germany 5-4 in a pulsating bronze-medal match, thus ending a 41-year medal drought.

The Germans tilted the scales by edging past India 3-2 in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics en route to a silver medal even as the Indians won a second successive bronze.

Even as international hockey returns to the Dhyanchand Stadium after several years, one of the sport's great rivalries continues to be rekindled in Delhi.