Hockey
Indian hockey team's road to bronze medal match at Tokyo Olympics
Revisit the historic run of the women's hockey team of India to the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics.
The historic run of the Indian women's hockey team has reached the final stage when they will play the bronze medal match against Great Britain on 6th August 2021. All Indian fans will be stuck to their screen watching the girl's script history at the Tokyo Olympics. They have already surpassed the long wait of its first-ever semi-final match where they lost to Argentina by 2-1.
But the performance of the team has been exceptional till now as they made a comeback after losing three matches in the tournament. Let's have a look at their road to the bronze medal contest.
The first match lost against the Netherlands (1-5)
India lost its first game against the World No. 1 team and Rio's silver medallist side of Netherlands by 5 goals to 1 who have now reached the finals at the Tokyo Olympics. The Dutch women's hockey team defeated the defending champions Great Britain in their semi-final match by 5-1 and are by far the strongest team losing none of their games till now. The chances of the Indian team looked bleak when only Rani Rampal from the side of India could score the lone goal.
Lost the second match against Germany (0-2)
The losing run of the team continued as they lost the second game to the skilled german side by 2-0. The hope was dying as the girls weren't looking in their best form and giving easy possession to their opponents.
The third match lost to Great Britain (1-4)
Another big loss at the Olympics at the hands of the British team meant an almost goodbye for the women's hockey team as they lost the match by 4-1. The sole goal scorer was Sharmila for India. They wanted redemption in the fourth game or their Olympic dream would have been lost just like Rio 2016.
The fourth match comeback win against Ireland (1-0)
A tie would have given a hard time to the Indian hockey team but Navneet scored a late goal giving India a much-needed win at the Tokyo Olympics and their long-awaited victory since Rio Olympics where they lost all their group stage matches. They defeated Ireland in a close encounter by 1-0 making a comeback in the tournament.
Fifth match exciting win against South Africa (4-3)
This was a thrilling match as every time India scored, South Africa had an answer but with a dominating show, the women's team took the match with a fabulous scoreline with Vandana scoring a hat trick for the Indian team.
Historic Quarterfinal match defeating Australia (1-0)
Indian team entered the first-ever semis at the Olympics in their lifetime after beating the much stronger Australian team by 1-0. Gurjit Kaur, the drag-flicker scored the only goal for India and they defended the entire time for the rest of the match.
After taking the initial lead in the most awaited match of the first semi-match at the Olympics, the Indian team suffered a defeat at the hands of the Argentinian team by 2-1. The Indian women's team tried to defend their way through the entire match after scoring the first goal but that proved costly for them.
They will now face the team of Great Britain for the bronze medal encounter. Having lost to them 4-1 previously, this will be a tough task for the Indian team to accomplish.