With a brilliant performance from a young team that livedlike a family during the pandemic and played as a single unit in Tokyo, Indiamade it to the medal round of the Olympic Games men's hockey tournament after agap of 41 years, beating Great Britain 3-1 in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
It was Super Sunday for India as the team coached byAustralia's Graham Reid rode on a scintillating performance by goalkeeper PRSreejesh to outwit Great Britain in the fourth and final quarterfinal, settingup a last-four clash with reigning World Cup winners Belgium. Australia take onGermany in the other semifinal.
Victory over Belgium will put India in the final for thefirst time since the 1980 Moscow Olympics when they beat Spain to win theireighth and last gold medal in Olympics hockey.
A defeat against Belgium will keep them in the hunt forthe bronze medal.
It is the first time that India have reached thesemifinal of Olympic hockey competition since 1972 when they won a bronze inMunich as there were no semifinals played in Moscow, with the top-two teams inthe preliminary league making it to the gold-medal match while the team thatfinished third and fourth contested for bronze.
Forwards Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, and Hardik Singhscored for India while Sam Ward reduced the margin off an indirect penaltycorner.
But India have to thank their defenders and goalkeeperSreejesh for the victory as they absorbed the pressure from Great Britain --especially in the fourth quarter when skipper Manpreet Singh was shown theyellow card for a desperate tackle -- and thwarted repeated attempts from theBritish forwards.
Earlier, India started off well and went into the lead inthe seventh minute after Great Britain had earned the first penalty corner ofthe match in the third minute. Amit Rohidas rushed forward to cut down thespace, which did not allow the rivals to take a clear shot.
India took control of the first quarter and scored whenDilpreet capitalised on a superb move and pass by Gurjant to slam the ball pastthe goalkeeper.
India dictated the pace, dominated the midfield, andgoalkeeper PR Sreejesh stood like a rock, denying the British goals off penaltycorners as well as their forward Sam Ward, who looked threatening on a coupleof occasions.
Sreejesh was the best Indian player in the first half asshe denied the British forwards on several occasions.
Gurjant Singh made it 2-0 in the second quarter withanother superb field goal, his third in the Tokyo Olympics so far.
Great Britain picked up the tempo in the second quarter andcreated a number of chances, always looking to Sam Ward to provide the finalpush towards the goal. But with the Indian defence, manned by Amit Rohidas,Rupinderpal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Sumit blocking, tackling and thwartingthe rivals, Great Britain found the going tough.