Bhubaneswar, Dec 10:
India reclaimed the bronze medal at the Hockey World League (HWL) Final after eking out a close 2-1 win over a depleted but spirited Germany in the third-fourth place classification match here today.
It was always going to be a David vs Goliath task for Germany as they were already a depleted side before start of the start of the match having lost five players to illness and injuries.
For the Germans, who had 13 players at its disposal in the semi-final against Australia yesterday, it became bad to worse as they had just 11 players to play with, including reserve goalkeeper Mark Appel, in the bronze medal match after two more players fell ill.
But Germany dished out a lion-hearted performance and not only restricted the margin to 2-1 but also gave India the India defence a run for their money with as many as 13 shots at the goal as against the home team’s 12.
The Germans also had more penalty corners than India as they secured seven as against the hosts’ four.
They might be down with number of players, but the Germans once again produced structured hockey and not only held the attack for 21 minutes but also managed to sneak in a goal.
The Indians were lacklustre and below-par today and had it been a full strength German side the script of the match could very well have been different. (PTI)
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