Pakistan

Pakistan warded off a spirited challenge from Germany to register a 3-1 win in their opening match of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament here today.

Egged by thousands of supporters, the hosts got the better of Germany after Sohail Abbas (34rd), Shaqeel Abbasi (52nd) and Kashif Jawad (64th) sounded the board at the National Hockey Stadium.

Germany's lone goal came through Montag Jan-Marco who scored five minutes into the second half.

Germany, who entered the event without several of their established players, put up a tough fight to deny Pakistan any leeway in the early part of the match before Sohail's goal just before the half time opened them up.

In fact the Olympic bronze medallists made some good moves and even came close to taking the lead.

In the 28th minute, Florian Keller made a fine attempt but goalkeeper Salman Akbar warded off his try.

Oliver Hentschel's second shot from a rebound then went high over the goal.

Sohail, world's leading goal scorer, gave the side the lead with his trademark drag flick but that setback failed to dampen the morale of the Germans.

Germany came back from the break with determination and restored parity four minutes after the break with Jan-Marco scoring from a penalty corner.

But Pakistan shut the door on the Germans as they scored twice in 10 minutes, Abbasi deflecting in a sharp shot from Sohail Abbas and Jawad converting a penalty corner.

Germany play Spain while Pakistan take on New Zealand tomorrow.

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