<p> India recovered from conceding an early self-goal to prevail 4-2 over New Zealand and move to the top of Pool A in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Sunday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The victory gave India six points from two matches, making them the only unbeaten team in the pool following England’s surprise 4-1 win over Olympic champions Germany earlier in the day.<br /><br />Four-time defending champions Australia were held to a goalless draw by Olympic silver medallists Netherlands, while Pakistan scored twice in the second session to prevail 2-0 over Belgium in Pool B.<br /><br />New Zealand took the lead in the third minute when India conceded a self-goal, which has been introduced into world level hockey after the Olympic Games.<br />Rupinderpal Singh failed to cleanly stop Sardar Singh’s back-pass in front of the goal and the ball trickled over the goal-line to concede India’s first self-goal in international hockey.<br /><br />New Zealand defence also wilted under pressure to give India the equaliser. Akashdeep Singh dived for a deflection on Sardar long through ball in the 10th minute.<br />A fine field goal by Gurwinder Singh Chandi (14th) and a penalty corner conversion by V R Raghunath (25th) gave India a 3-1 lead at the interval before New Zealand came back through a flash strike by Nicholas Wilson two minutes into the second half.<br /><br />Mounting pressure through repeated raids, India put the game out of New Zealand’s reach when Danish Mujtaba capitalised on a rebound from the goalkeeper on a pressing move in the 65th minute.<br /><br />This was India’s second win in successive days, following the 3-1 win over England in their opening match.<br /><br />India coach Michael Nobbs was delighted at the way the new-look team had produced two victories.<br /><br />“I’m happy with the boys and the manner in which they have played,” Nobbs said.<br />“They are a young bunch and they’ve combined well in their first tournament together. These two wins will boost the confidence of the youngsters a great deal,” he added.<br /><br />India next play Germany on Tuesday after a rest day on Monday.<br /><br />Stunning upset<br /><br />England pulled off a stunning upset by hammering Germany 4-1, in an encounter that featured two self-goals.<br /><br />The victory for England, six of whose players played their maiden international games in Saturday’s loss to India, was their first against Germany in Champions Trophy.<br /><br />The Germans played with 10 men for the last 15 minutes after Niklas Grell was sent off following his second yellow card of the match, which automatically got converted into a red card. Trailing by two goals and one player short on the pitch, this marked the end of Germany’s comeback hopes.<br /><br /><br />Results: Pool A: India: 4 (Akashdeep Singh 10th; Gurwinder Singh Chandi 14th; V R Raghunath 25th; Danish Mujtaba 65th) bt New Zealand: 2 (Rupinderpal Singh 3rd (OG); Nicholas Wilson 37th); England: 4 (Adam Dixon 6th; Harry Martin 10th; Mats Grambusch 33rd (OG); Darren Cheesman 61st) bt Germany: 1 (Richard Smith 14th (OG).<br /><br />Pool B: Pakistan: 2 (Abdul Haseem Khan 56th; Shafqat Rasool 69th) bt Belgium: 0; Australia: 0 drew with Netherlands: 0.</p>
<p> India recovered from conceding an early self-goal to prevail 4-2 over New Zealand and move to the top of Pool A in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Sunday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The victory gave India six points from two matches, making them the only unbeaten team in the pool following England’s surprise 4-1 win over Olympic champions Germany earlier in the day.<br /><br />Four-time defending champions Australia were held to a goalless draw by Olympic silver medallists Netherlands, while Pakistan scored twice in the second session to prevail 2-0 over Belgium in Pool B.<br /><br />New Zealand took the lead in the third minute when India conceded a self-goal, which has been introduced into world level hockey after the Olympic Games.<br />Rupinderpal Singh failed to cleanly stop Sardar Singh’s back-pass in front of the goal and the ball trickled over the goal-line to concede India’s first self-goal in international hockey.<br /><br />New Zealand defence also wilted under pressure to give India the equaliser. Akashdeep Singh dived for a deflection on Sardar long through ball in the 10th minute.<br />A fine field goal by Gurwinder Singh Chandi (14th) and a penalty corner conversion by V R Raghunath (25th) gave India a 3-1 lead at the interval before New Zealand came back through a flash strike by Nicholas Wilson two minutes into the second half.<br /><br />Mounting pressure through repeated raids, India put the game out of New Zealand’s reach when Danish Mujtaba capitalised on a rebound from the goalkeeper on a pressing move in the 65th minute.<br /><br />This was India’s second win in successive days, following the 3-1 win over England in their opening match.<br /><br />India coach Michael Nobbs was delighted at the way the new-look team had produced two victories.<br /><br />“I’m happy with the boys and the manner in which they have played,” Nobbs said.<br />“They are a young bunch and they’ve combined well in their first tournament together. These two wins will boost the confidence of the youngsters a great deal,” he added.<br /><br />India next play Germany on Tuesday after a rest day on Monday.<br /><br />Stunning upset<br /><br />England pulled off a stunning upset by hammering Germany 4-1, in an encounter that featured two self-goals.<br /><br />The victory for England, six of whose players played their maiden international games in Saturday’s loss to India, was their first against Germany in Champions Trophy.<br /><br />The Germans played with 10 men for the last 15 minutes after Niklas Grell was sent off following his second yellow card of the match, which automatically got converted into a red card. Trailing by two goals and one player short on the pitch, this marked the end of Germany’s comeback hopes.<br /><br /><br />Results: Pool A: India: 4 (Akashdeep Singh 10th; Gurwinder Singh Chandi 14th; V R Raghunath 25th; Danish Mujtaba 65th) bt New Zealand: 2 (Rupinderpal Singh 3rd (OG); Nicholas Wilson 37th); England: 4 (Adam Dixon 6th; Harry Martin 10th; Mats Grambusch 33rd (OG); Darren Cheesman 61st) bt Germany: 1 (Richard Smith 14th (OG).<br /><br />Pool B: Pakistan: 2 (Abdul Haseem Khan 56th; Shafqat Rasool 69th) bt Belgium: 0; Australia: 0 drew with Netherlands: 0.</p>