Ending the 41-year long wait, the men’s Indian hockey team clinched bronze at the Tokyo Olympics by defeating Germany 5-4 in an enthralling contest. The Indian hockey team last won a medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
The Indian team had to face defeat at the hands of Belgium in the semi-finals, but gave a great account of their mettle in the bronze match to come back from behind and script history.
It was not a promising start for India as Germany found the back of the net in the first quarter and despite attempts made by the Indian team, Germany held fort and at the break the Indian team had a lot of ground to cover. However, just as the second quarter started, Simranjit Singh scored a brilliant goal to bring India on level terms.
This was just the start of a slew of goals in the second quarter. Germany hit back with a couple of goals in the initial few minutes to take a 3-1 lead. However, this is when the Indian team dug deep and they too hit a goal courtesy Hardik Singh’s penalty corner and India trailed 2-3.
Immediately after this penalty corner, the Indian team scored another goal and Harmanpreet Singh scored the third goal for the Indian team with a penalty. And in an exhilarating quarter, India stood on level terms with Germany. As many as 5 goals were scored in the second quarter.
India had found momentum and they continued to be on the attack even when the third quarter began. Rupinder Pal Singh stepped up and converted a penalty corner to give India the lead for the first time in the match.
The Indian side was a changed unit in the third quarter and they never took a step back and continued to create chances. Simranjeet Singh scored his second goal of the match and India took a 5-3 lead in the match.
Although Lukas Windfeder got one goal back in the final quarter, but Indian held on to a 5-4 lead and the side won a medal for the first time in 41 years to spark wild celebrations in the camp as well as the entire country.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here