India reached the semifinals of men’s hockey at the Tokyo Olympics on August 1. The Indian team defeated Great Britain 3-1 in the quarterfinals to enter the semis.
Eyeing a final berth, India will take on Belgium at the semifinal on August 3.
This is the best result for the eight-time gold medal winner at the Olympics in 41 years. India won the gold in the 1980 Moscow Games.
Team India made the most of the defensive errors from Great Britain as Dilpreet Singh and Gurjant Singh scored two goals by halftime. The first came in the first quarter as Simranjeet Singh stole the ball from Britain player, and passed it to Dilpreet who was standing alone inside the circle. The youngster made no mistake and gave India the lead.
The second goal came at the start of the second quarter – as Hardik Singh intercepted a pass from Great Britain player, and struck it straight to Gurjant Singh inside the circle. Gurjant, twisted, turned and struck it in to double India’s lead.
In the third quarter, India was forced to defend as a spirited Great Britain mounted attack. Sreejesh at the goal made some important saves. Great Britain’s repeated pressure resulted in multiple penalty corners. They scored through Sam Ward making the score 2-1.
At end of the third quarter, India continued to lead 2-1 against Great Britain in Men’s Hockey quarterfinal.
By the fourth quarter, Great Britain looked threatening as they kept entering the Indian circle. Sreejesh made an important save in the penalty corner as he kept India afloat. But, a brilliant counter-attack by Hadik Singh sealed the match for India as he scored making it 3-1 for India. Hadik Singh’s first shot was deflected by the Great Britain goalkeeper, only to allow him a chance to hit the ball again and this time the goalkeeper had no chance.
