While giving full credit to his young and learning team, German captain Tobias Hauke conceded the fact that they were bit lucky to over come India today in their event opener here I Bhubaneswar.

Germany defeated India by a solitary goal struck by Florian Fucks when just 40 seconds left in the clock.

“All of us played well against India. This is what we expected from the team, and the youngsters did, a great experience for them to play against such a big crowd”, he added.

We were bit lucky and your goalie Sreejesh was really good”, he evaluated.

Calling the match evenly balanced, and fought one coach Markus Weiss said that his young team had a slight advantage.

“I don’t go by the outcome, but the way the young players performed”, said Markus who guided both Men and women to gold at Olympics.

This performance is a boost to our morale. Good learning exercise for them. It is a tough competition.

He also conceded that absence of experienced players did not matter much as long as young ones compete for the space and take their slot.

“This way this competition offers new players a scope to get their place in the team”

Captain Tobias Hauke also conceded the fact that absence of experienced players like Christopher Zeller, who is not here due to injury, led them to try various players in the penalty corner drill.

“Perhaps, we could not convert any penalty corners today, but your goalie was good too”, he asserted.