Indian men’s hockey team reaches semi-finals of Tokyo Olympics
Team India beat Great Britain in the quarter finals to move into the semi finals. The perfomance is all the more impressive from the men in blue considering the fact they were bamboozled 7-1 in the group stage by Australia.
In the first quarter, Dilpreet Singh scored in the 7th minute. After this, in the second quarter, Gurjant Singh scored in the 16th minute. India had taken a 2-0 lead at the end of the two quarters. However, Britain bounced back in the third quarter and Sam Ward scored in the 45th minute to make the score 2-1. But Hardik scored the 3rd goal for India in the final minutes to ensure India’s victory.
PR Shreejesh: The Great Wall of India
PR Shreejesh proved to be an immovable wall for the opponents. He saved 4 out of 5 shots fired at the goal.
Dilpreet Singh, playing his 50th match for India, scored a field goal to lead India in the match. Five minutes later, Sreejesh blocked Britain’s goal attempt with a fine save.
Just a minute before the end of the third quarter, Britain got three consecutive penalty corners and in the third attempt, Britain broke the Indian defense and made the scoreline 2-1.
Team India thus reached the top-4, for the first time since 1980. Then India also won the gold medal. Since then the team has never been able to reach the top-4. The 8-time Olympic champion Indian team has a great chance to repeat history.
Won 4 matches in pool leg for the first time since 1972
This is the first time since 1972 that the Indian team has won 4 or more matches in the pool stage. In the 1972 Olympics, India won 5 out of 7 matches in the pool stage. After this, till the 2016 Olympics, India could not win more than 3 matches in the group stage. From 1984 to 2016, the Indian team had never won more than 2 matches in the group stage.
India won 8 gold medals in men’s hockey
India has won the most medals in the Olympics in men’s hockey. The team won gold medals in the 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964 and 1980 Olympics. Apart from this, they won silver in 1960 and bronze medal in 1968 and 1972. After the 1980 Moscow Olympics, India has not won any medal in hockey.
