Women enter maiden Olympic semifinals; Men back in Medal Race after four decades
Led by Rani Rampal, the Indian women’s hockey team created history this morning by advancing to their first semi-final in the history of the Olympics with a 1-0 win over Australia at Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Gurjit Kaur scored her maiden Olympics goal in 2nd quarter. Having played sublime hockey right throughout the tournament, Indian team was brilliant in its defence as Australia failed to convert the seven penalty corner opportunities they had.
In the semifinals on Aug. 4, India will face Argentina who beat Germany 3-0 in the previous quarterfinals match.
Men’s Team
A determined Indian men’s hockey team advanced to the Olympic semifinals for the first time in four decades, beating Great Britain 3-1 in the quarterfinals yesterday, a triumph which leaves the side within touching distance of a medal that has proved elusive for over four decades.
The eight-time former Olympic Champions scored three field goals through Dilpreet Singh (7th minute), Gurjant Singh (16th) and Hardik Singh (57th) to seal the win. Great Britain’s lone goal was scored by Sam Ward from a penalty corner in the 45th minute.
By virtue of this win, India now have a 5-4 win-loss record over Great Britain in the Olympic Games. India will take on world champions Belgium in the semifinal tomorrow (Aug. 3) at 7 am (IST).
The last time India featured in the semifinals of the Olympics was in 1972 Munich Games where they lost 0-2 to arch-rivals Pakistan.
This clearly shows that our government’s priorities are all messed up! Who cares if we win Medals in Olympics? How much money we spent(wasted) for this one cup! We can make our own cups and keep it in our showcase ourselves! We can’t beat China or Japan or US, but they are all rich counties! No point in competing with them and wasting the money when that money can be spent on better means like reducing petrol prices, uplifting poor people from their poverty, curing Corona etc! For once I agree with Congress! they have become the voice of reason and people’s conscience!