There were moments to relish for India in the BDO Masters hockey championship on Saturday. Believe it or not, India held the lead three times in the match but capitulated in the last six minutes to concede a 3-5 defeat against Germany at the Ulhenhorster HC. The fifth goal came 50 seconds left for the hooter.
Coming as the performance did after the devastating 3-6 reverse against the Netherlands on Friday the showing today was heartening in many spells against the formidable Olympic Champion.
Those accustomed to India slithering down the labyrinth of defeat at the death today's outcome carried the usual script; play well in patches, score a couple of bewitching goals, then court disaster in the final stages.
It did not vary much on Saturday in the encounter that was advanced to facilitate the German players and fans to be in front of their TVs to watch the most important event of the day-the quarter final against Argentina in FIFA-2010.
India gained an early lead through a penalty stroke converted neatly by Sandeep Singh, netted two brilliant field goals, one by Rajpal Singh midway through for a 2-1 lead then followed by Dharamvir Singh in the second half.
But the Germans gallant as they have always been came back and back to level at 1-1 through a penalty corner by Montag, then again before the half-time by Florian Fuchs. Maxmillan Mueller made up for the goal by Dharamvir Singh, while Christopher Zeller netted a stroke and Christoph Menke widened the margin in the end.
There were phases when the Indians really touched the emotional chords. It was hard to believe they left behind the effect of their deplorable Friday's show. If only they held the nerve in the final minutes without getting flurried and slipping into errors, the result would have been otherwise. A draw was very much on the cards, and coach Brasa believes even a victory was well within the realm of possibility.
The inspiration came from the stroke by Sandeep in the second minute after his penalty corner drive hit a defender. From then on the Indians weaved some splendid sallies thanks to the impressive stick-work and passing by Amir Khan supported exceedingly well by Danish Mujtaba. It was Mujtaba's accurate pass that helped Rajpal Singh hit the target on the run from the top of the circle midway through.
While Rajpal Singh and Tushar Khandekar flashed into the picture now and then, it was the solid work of Chikkara that kept up the tempo in India's favour. In the absence of Sardar Singh, suffering from a touch of fever, Gurbaj had to take the extra role in the deep. Substitute Rupinder effected a few good tackles from the speeding Zeller and Moritz Furste. As always, Mahadik worked like a beaver.
While Brasa was pleased with the way the team functioned, albeit in patches, he is worried about the errors committed in the final moments. India had two penalty corners late in the second half but failed to make capital of them.
At the end of the day, it is difficult to sink the sickening feeling of seeing a team demonstrating the finer elements of fluency and finesse ending up in the disaster zone.
The result: Germany 5 (Jan-Marco Montag, Florian Fuchs, Maximillan Mueller, Christopher Zeller, Moritz Furste) beat India 3 (Sandeep Singh, Rajpal Singh,Dharamvir Singh) HT 2-2.
Sunday's matches: India v Japan (3 p.m. IST), Germany v Netherlands (5-30 p.m.).
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