HWL: India hold mighty Australia 1-1

Bhubaneswar, December 1: India hold mighty Australia 1-1 in their opening match of the Hockey World League Final at the Kalinga Stadium here on Friday (December 1).

In their second match, India will face England on Saturday (December 2). In the opening match of the elite eight nation tournament, Germany had beaten England 2-0.

India, in the 200th international match of skipper Manpreet Pawar, dominated the first two quarters of their match against Australia and found the lead in the 20th minute through Mandeep Singh, who executed a brilliant reverse flick.

However, Australia restored parity within the next minute through a Jeremy Hayward, who converted a penalty corner. Despite both the teams trying their best, no goals were added to the sheet.

Germany win

Mats Grambusch and Christopher Ruhr struck a goal each as four-time Olympic champion Germany started their HWL Final campaign with a convincing 2-0 win over England in the opening match.