Indian hockey teams qualify for Tokyo Olympics
Indian eves confirmed their place in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on the basis of goal difference in the two-stage match of the Olympic qualifiers against the United States.
However, the Indian women’s hockey team lost 4–1 to the USA in the second leg match played on Saturday. But the Indian women’s hockey team beat America 5–1 in the first leg match, so the goal difference went in favor of the Indian women’s team.
The Indian women’s team finished 6-5 on the basis of goal difference in both the matches.
At the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, the Indian women’s hockey team was out of sorts till the 48th minute of the game as the American team held control of the match with a strong 4–0 lead by then.
The American team needed only one more goal to get an Olympic ticket, but in the 48th minute of the game, India’s captain Rani Rampal got the ball in the ‘D’ and then scored the goal by punching through the American goalkeeper’s defense.
This same goal proved to be a decisive for the Indian women’s team. After this, the Indian team faced the American team with full vigor and did not let them score any more goals.
Earlier, America’s Amanda Magadan converted the penalty corner into a goal in the fifth minute of the game and spread silence in the packed stadium.
After this, in the 14th minute, US captain Kathleen Sharkey scored a field goal to lead 2–0. The third goal for America was scored by Elisa Parker in the 20th minute. The fourth and final goal was scored by Amanda Magadan in the 28th minute.
The Indian women’s team, after getting four goals scored against them, consistently failed the US counter attack by adopting a defensive strategy.
However, the Indian women’s team finally saved their Olympics hope by scoring a goal and on the basis of goal difference, they crossed their first challenge to make it to the Olympics 2020.
Earlier in the first leg match played on Friday, India defeated the American team 5-1 with the help of two goals each of Gurjeet Kaur, Lilima Minj, Sharmila Devi and Navneet Kaur. The only goal for the American team was scored by Erin Matteson.
Surprisingly, the team that had defeated the American team 5–1 the day before, suffered a 4–1 defeat the next day.
Record of only five wins in 31 matches against USA
This was the 31st match of the Indian women’s hockey team against the American team, of which the Indian team has won only five matches. He suffered defeat in 17 matches while nine matches were drawn. Given this record, the performance of the Indian team cannot be called bad.
Men’s hockey team also get a ticket to Tokyo Olympics
After this, the Indian men’s hockey team also qualified for next year’s Olympics to be held in Japan.
India easily defeated Russia in both the two-stage Olympic qualifiers at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
India defeated Russia 4–2 in the first leg match and 7–1 in the second leg match. After winning both the matches, the Indian men’s team did not have to win by a goal difference. In the 7-1 victory of the Indian men’s team on Saturday, Rupinder Singh scored three goals including a hat-trick, Akashdeep Singh scored two, Lalit Upadhyay and Neelkanth Sharma scored one each.
Alexi Sobolevski scored the only goal for Russia in the first minute of the game. But after this, India dominated the match.
