Germany trounce India 4-0

Amsterdam:

Germany's Bjorn Michel scored a hat-trick as India crashed to their third successive defeat in the four-nation Rabobank hockey tournament here today. Michel's goals in a 10-minute blitzkreig helped his side emerge 4-0 winners and win a place in the final against Holland on Sunday. India would now play for the 3-4 places against arch-rivals Pakistan, who would take on Holland in the final league match later today. Even a win may not help Pakistan since they lost the league match against Germany. After managing to put up a fight in the first half, during which they conceded a goal scored by Christopher Bechmann, the Indians hardly offered any resistance after the break as Michel went berserk converting three penalty corners. This was India's third defeat in a row following their 0-2 defeat to Holland and 1-6 humiliation by Pakistan. India rested veteran strikers Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh Dhillon, who both failed to impress in the first two games. But the move failed to yield any positives as rookies Hari Prasad, Inderjit Singh and Sunil Yadav failed to trouble the German defenders. Even their famed forwards -- Gagan Ajit Singh and Prabhjot Singh -- failed to do anything noteworthy to stem the rot. (PTI)