3 Dec 2011

Black Sticks men lose to Germany in Champions Trophy opener

8:03 pm on 3 December 2011

The New Zealand men's hockey team has lost to Germany in their opening game of the Champions Trophy tournament in Auckland, the Black Sticks going down 2-1.

Germany went ahead early before Hugo Inglis equalised for New Zealand with an opportunistic diving effort before half-time.

But the Germans scored the matchwinner with about 10 minutes left.

The defending champions and world number ones Australia opened the tournament with a scrappy 3-2 win over Spain, and Great Britain came from behind in the other game to beat Pakistan 2-1.

The Netherlands beat South Korea 2-0 in the last game of the opening day.