Finance
The Indian men’s hockey team once again rose to the occasion, defeating Great Britain 1-1 (4-2) in a shootout to win a semifinal spot at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
This is India’s first appearance in the men’s hockey semifinals in two consecutive Olympic Games since 1972 in Munich. Previously, India reached the semi-finals of the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won consecutive bronze medals. India won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and hopes to repeat or improve that achievement in Paris.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh (22′) scored for India, while Lee Morton (27′) scored for Great Britain as the match ended with the score tied at 1-1 in regular time, forcing the game into a shootout, which India won 1-1 (4-2) and advanced to the semi-finals.
Great Britain took the lead early in the game, while India appeared to be on the counter-attack. Both teams came out swinging in a furious first 15 minutes, resulting in a deadlock.
In a contentious turn of events, India’s Amit Rohidas received a red card two minutes into the second quarter, reducing India to ten men for the remainder of the match. Despite the red card, India took a 1-0 lead against the flow of play in the 22nd minute with skipper Harmanpreet Singh’s penalty corner convert, his fifth goal of the tournament.
Five minutes later, Lee Morton leveled for Great Britain, tying the game, leaving India with a mountain to climb in the second half. To make matters worse, Sumit was issued a green card in the penultimate minute of the third quarter, reducing the team to nine men for the following two minutes. As a result, India started the final quarter with just nine men and held Great Britain from taking the lead.
In the third and fourth quarters, superb Britain attempted to penetrate the Indian backline that had set up camp, but a superb defensive effort and India’s wall PR Sreejesh, who is playing his farewell tournament in national colors, stood tall and blocked the opponents from scoring their second goal on multiple occasions, assisting the team in bringing the game to a shootout.
James Albery, Harmanpreet Singh, Zach Wallace, and Sukhjeet Singh all scored penalties to keep the score 2-2 after two rounds, but consecutive misses by Connor Williamson and Phillip Roger allowed India to pull ahead, with Lalit Upadhyay and Rajkumar Pal scoring for India to make it 4-2 in the shootout.
India will take on the winner of the quarter-finals between Germany and Argentina in the semifinal on Tuesday.
Source:IANS
