India defeated host Japan 5-3 in their final preliminarymatch in men's hockey Group A to finish their proceedings in second placebehind world No. 1 Australia in the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
This is India's best performance in the league phaseafter 41 years as they had last finished second in the group in the 1980 MoscowOlympics when they won their eighth and last gold medal so far.
With this win, team India has paved way for victory inTokyo Olympics 2020. Now, the Indian Hockey Team (Men) led by captain ManpreetSingh qualified for the quarter-finals, scheduled for August 1 (Sunday) againstGreat Britain.
After witnessing the stupendous performance of the team,Punjab Hockey President Mr. Nitin Kohli dialed the team to congratulate them formaking it to the quarterfinals. He has even extended his best wishes to theteam to secure ‘gold’ in Tokyo Olympics 2020 to make the nation proud.
It is to be reiterated here, 11 players in the team hailfrom Punjab, and their dedication, efforts, passion for the game have made thembecome part of a grand sports event. Their selection in the Indian team hasbrought a fruitful result for the Punjab Hockey Association, which leaves nostone unturned to identify the sportsmanship in a player.
Earlier in the day, Punjab Sports Minister Rana GurmeetSodhi announced that hockey players from the state representing India at theTokyo Olympics would get Rs 2.25 crore each if the team wins the gold medal.
Notably, earlier an amount of Rs 2.25 crore was announcedfor the entire team on winning gold at the Olympics