The Indian men's hockey team have finally secured a win in their FIH Pro League campaign after beating Germany 3-1 in Rotterdam on Wednesday.
It's a much needed one for India who hadn't won in their previous nine games in the league. The match also marked Manpreet Singh's 413th international appearance, as the midfield great overtook Dilip Tirkey's record for most international caps for India.
Against Germany, goals from Mandeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra and Nilakanta Sharma did the job for India. It was a much-improved performance from the Indian side who lost to Netherlands 3-2 in their last match a couple of days ago. They were quick on the ball, maintained their defensive structure and pounced on any errors from an uncharacteristically sloppy Germany.
The first goal came in the seventh minute when Mandeep latched on to the ball after a superb steal from Dilpreet Singh. The Indian forward made a turn and slotted the ball through the goalkeeper's legs.
Six minutes later, Linus Muller failed to trap the ball and Shilanand made them pay as he took a touch and finished it to make it 2-0 for India.
Five minutes into the second half, there was yet another mistake from Germany, this time by Thies Prinz as Nilakanta came running from the midfield, stole the ball and scored the team's third goal.
Germany added one at the end of the third quarter with a fine finish by Raphael Hartkopf. They pushed hard in the final 15 minutes, but India's resolute defending ensured they take all the points from the game.
The win doesn't improve India's ranking as they are still in eighth place after seven points from 10 games. Spain are above India with eight points while Pakistan are the only side not to secure any wins so far. They have lost all their games in this season so far. India will once again meet Germany on Thursday for the second leg of the fixture and then will face Netherlands on Sunday. In the next week, India will face Pakistan and England twice to end their Pro League campaign.
The last-placed team at the end of the campaign will be relegated to FIH Nations League while the winner of the FIH Pro League will confirm a place at the LA 2028 Olympics.