Rise of Indian hockey team
The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams achieved great heights during the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics.
After finishing wooden spoon in the Rio Olympics, the Indian
women’s team showed great character in Tokyo Olympics. Under the captaincy of Rani
Rampal, they were thrashed by Netherlands 1-5, Germany 0-2, and then Great
Britain 1-4 in the first three matches.
Needing to stay alive in the tournament, the Indian team played
attacking hockey against Ireland earning 14 penalty corners but did not convert
into goals. With 3 minutes left, a superb deflection touch by Navneet Kaur
helped India take the lead. The Indian defense stood tall and held their nerves
to win it by 1-0.
In the final group match against South Africa, Vandana Katria
became the first Indian woman to score a hattrick in Olympics history. Thanks to
her efforts, India registered a thrilling 4-3 win. Great Britain defeated Ireland
helping the Indian team qualify for the quarterfinals stage.
The Indian women’s hockey team produced a stunning display
against 3-time Olympic Champion Australia. After not performing well in the
group stages, Gurjeet Kaur converted a penalty corner into a goal in 22nd
minute to give them a 1-0 lead. Despite the Australian team getting chances, the Indian
defense remained solid and registered a stunning 1-0 win to qualify for the
semi-finals of the Olympics for the first time.
It was an ideal start for the Indian women’s team in the
semi-finals as Gurjeet Kaur scored the first goal through a penalty corner. After the
initial goal, they could not play accordingly and lost the match by 1-2. Indian
team played their hearts out, but Argentina's experience made them through.
The bronze medal match was an amazing performance by the
Indian women’s team against Great Britain. Great Britain scored the first two goals,
but Gurjeet Kaur equaled with 2 brilliant penalty corners. Vandana Katria gave
the Indian team lead a brilliant field goal. At the end of the first half,
India led 3-2.
Great Britain showed their experience as they equaled the
scores in 3rd quarter and then took the lead in 4th
quarter. The Indian team showed great character to level scores, but it was not
enough.
After the first three matches, nobody thought that the Indian
women’s team would qualify for the semi-finals and give a tough fight to the top
teams in the world.
Men’s team create history
The Indian men’s created history as earned a medal in
Olympics history after a gap of 41 years. They started their Olympic journey with a nervy 3-2 win over New Zealand.
It was a terrible performance against Australia as they were
thrashed 1-7. They showed great character in the next three matches defeating
Spain 3-0, Argentina 3-1 and ended the group stage with a 5-3 over Japan to
finish 2nd in the points table.
The Indian men’s team made an aggressive start in the quarterfinals
as they scored the first two goals. England team fought back strongly as Sam
Ward converted a penalty corner in dying minutes of the 3rd quarter.
Great Britain put enough pressure on the Indian defense. A
superb counterattacking goal helped India scored the third goal and move into
the semi-finals.
It was a hard-fought match against Belgium in the
semi-finals. After being 0-1 down, the Indian team scored 2 goals to take the lead.
The match went well for India till the 4th quarter as India was with 10
men. Belgium took advantage of it and won the match by 5-2 to move into the
finals.
India produced another superb performance in the bronze
medal match against Germany. After conceding a goal, Simranjeet Singh scored a brilliant goal to level the scores. Lack of defense by India helped Germany
score two more goals.
A rebound shot from a penalty corner and then Harmanpreet Singh
forceful drag-flick helped India level the score at 3-3 at end of the second
quarter.
Rupinder Pal Singh converted the penalty corner into a goal
to give India a 4-3 lead. India scored another brilliant field goal to put
Germany under pressure. With few seconds left, P Sreejesh saved the penalty
corner and helped India win the match by 5-4.
It was a remarkable performance by the Indian men’s team.
After not qualifying for Beijing Olympics in 2008. They performed badly in
London Olympics 2012 and then made it into the quarterfinals of Rio Olympics
2016.
Thanks to remarkable performance, the Indian men’s achieved
their career-best rankings of number 3. This will auger well for hockey as they
would be looking to perform and help regain back glory in Hockey.
Indian men's hockey team won bronze medal and women's team finished credible 4th in Tokyo Olympics
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