Bhubaneswar: The big crowd at Kalinga Stadium had its money’s worth on Saturday evening as the Indian men and women notched up wins in the in the FIH Pro League.
Having been outclassed and hammered 0-4 by Germany, the Indian women’s team took revenge in exactly 24 hours.
In a close contest on Saturday evening, Deepika scored from a penalty corner just three minutes into the match. That goal made the difference as both teams failed to score again despite creating several opportunities in the remaining 57 minutes.
The Indians forced nine more penalty corners, while the Germans earned five of those without finding the target.
Deepika, adjudged Player of the Match, received her award from Olympian gymnast Pranati Nayak.
With this win, India moved up from the bottom to seventh place with 7 points from 6 games.
The men, who came from behind to beat Ireland 3-1 on Friday, were far more convincing as they thumped the Irish 4-0.
Odisha’s Nilam Sanjeep Xess gave India the lead early, with the clock showing just 1 minute 13 seconds.
Mandeep Singh and Abhishek scored from penalty corners in the second quarter. Shamsher added a fourth, also via a penalty corner, in the third quarter.
Indian men are now in fourth place with 12 points from 6 matches.
