Bengaluru, August 5: With men's hockey team having ended India's medal drought, the onus is on the Rani Rampal-led women's squad to do an encore as they take on Great Britian in the bronze medal play-off tie off Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Friday (August 6).
The match begins at 7am IST (10.30 am Tokyo time) and will be shown live on Sony Sports Network channels.
Earlier in the day, India had ended their 41-year medal drought in men's field hockey at the quadrennial extravaganza, coming from behind to defeat Germany 5-4 to win the bronze medal play-off tie.
Tokyo Olympics: India win hockey medal after 41 years, beat Germany 5-4 for bronze
Though the Indian women's played their hearts out at Tokyo 2020 semifinal against Argentina at the Oi Hockey Stadium they could not get it past Argentina, going down 1-2 in their first-ever Olympics last-four tie.
However, an Olympic medal hope is still alive as they will take on world No.4 Great Britain in the bronze medal play-off tie.
Tokyo 2020: Hockey: India hails women's team's fighting display against Argentina
Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne expressed that the Indian team played with the right spirit in the semifinal against Argentina.
"We were really competitive against Argentina. It was about converting the small opportunities and we converted a penalty corner into a goal. We were very close so the loss is hurting the team very much, but now it's about recovery and looking forward to the next match.
"We can still win a medal. I'm proud of the way the girls performed against Argentina. They played an Olympic semifinal for the first time and it's not easy. We played with the right spirit and I'm very happy with that," said Marijne.
We will go for the Bronze in #Tokyo2020 against Great Britain on 6th August 2021 at 07:00 AM IST. 🥉#HaiTayyar #IndiaKaGame #TeamIndia #TokyoTogether #StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites #WeAreTeamIndia #Hockey pic.twitter.com/ykCzJbGrI4
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 4, 2021
Captain Rani shared Marijne's views and expressed that the national side will give everything it has to win its first Olympic medal.
"We played really well against Argentina, however, it was disappointing not to book a place in the Olympics final. We've performed really well in this tournament and we still've have a chance to win a medal. We're confident about our individual games and we'll give everything we've to win our first Olympic medal. We've a chance to make history on Friday," said Rani.
The mercurial forward added that the team will look to stay in the moment and focus on executing their plans.
"It'll be all about staying in the moment for us. We've to follow our processes and if we execute our plans properly, we'll be able to get a good result in the bronze medal match. We defeated Great Britain in our last encounter against them in February 2020 so we will take a lot of confidence from that match," Rani added.