BERLIN, June 15: Pakistan suffered their second loss in as many days to hosts Germany going down 2-1 in their field hockey Test match on Monday after losing 3-1 the previous day.

The visitors moved up a level from Sunday's match but nevertheless lacked striking power in the circle in the first half. Germany moved ahead after 28 minutes after Matthias Witthaus tipped in a deflection off a Christian Wein shot, with the next coming in the second half after Justus Scharowsky flicked across Pakistan goalie Ahmed Alam after 55 minutes.

Ten minutes later Sohail Abbas proved unstoppable with a penalty corner conversion into the top of the German goal in the second half and had a second chance after the hooter but goalie Clemens Arnold was again on target.

Coach Roelant Oltmans remained upbeat about Pakistan's pre-Olympics form as they head to the Hamburg Masters starting Friday, despite their third loss in a row after also losing 2-1 to lowly-rated Britain last Friday.

"I'm very proud of the team and the way they played, it was much better than yesterday," said Oltmans. "I started two young players, Muhammad Imran at left back and Imran Khan in the midfield to give them the experience and I was happy with them.

"We can expect much better results in Hamburg after the team has a chance to rest and work on some details," added Oltmans. Pakistan are in Europe to take part in a series of events to prepare for their quest for Olympic gold and will play a four-nation event from June 18-20 in Hamburg, where they will face Germany, South Korea and Argentina.

Pakistan, whose last gold medal came in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, then square off with the Netherlands, arch rivals India and Germany in another four-way contest at Amsterdam from June 25 to July 4. -AFP