Indian Womens Hockey Tokyo 2020 Olympic Win Has a 'Chak De' Connection, and It's Not SRK

Indian women’s hockey team scripted history on Monday as they booked their place in the semi-final for the first time in the Olympics. Gurjit Kaur’s goal from a penalty corner in the second quarter was enough for India to beat an undefeated world no.2 Australia. The Indian women’s team has made history by entering the knockout stages of the Olympics for the first time. In fact, coming into the match, the odds were totally against India as in world no.2 Australia, a mighty unbeaten opponent, awaited them. But the Indians, determined to prove a point, produced a strong and brave performance to eke out the narrow win over the Hockeyroos. Drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur converted India’s lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise the Australians. India’s best performance in the Olympics came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams. In that edition of the Games, women’s hockey made its debut in the Olympics and the sport was played in a round-robin format with top two teams qualifying for the final.

If you are a Bollywood fan, this is bound to bring back memories of the 2007 film ‘Chak de India!’ starring Shah Rukh Khan. If not, King Khan himself was around to remind you of the film.

Indian women’s hockey team coach Sjoerd Marijne’s tweeted a selfie with the team and said that he is coming home later. Khan shared the tweet, writing, “Haan haan no problem. Just bring some Gold on your way back….for a billion family members. This time Dhanteras is also on 2nd Nov. From: Ex-coach Kabir Khan."

In the 2007 film, Shah Rukh played Kabir Khan, the Indian national women’s hockey team coach who won the world cup. The movie which revolves around SRK teaching a group of young women to compete in the World cup, also shares a parallel with real life: Their competition against Australia.

In the film, the Indian team first lost to the mighty unbeaten Australians in the first group stage itself. However, redemption awaited, as the team then beat them in the finals. In real life, the Indian team beat the Australians in the quarter-finals to reach their first-ever semi-finals in the Olympics. So in many ways: The parallel still ran true: The Indian team beat the Australian team to an unprecedented victory for them.

Khan was not the only person to remind fans about the parallels between reel and real. Many Indian users on Twitter were also reminded of the same.

Marijne replied to Khan’s tweet on Monday, saying, “Thank you for all the support and love. We will give everything again. From: The Real Coach."

Following the win, Marijne had said, “It’s all about the mindset. I told the girls that we have nothing to lose, so play free, and that’s what we did today. It’s like a dream come true. I think this is the Chak De India in reality."

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