Indian hockey team has a chance to repeat history
Paris Olympics 2024 Hockey India: The Indian hockey team, captained by Harmanpreet Singh, is once again on the verge of repeating history. The hockey team, with only 10 players, has confirmed its place in the semi-finals by defeating a strong team like Great Britain. Now Team India will face Germany. As soon as India wins against Germany, not only will it have a chance to win gold, but even if it loses, it will still get silver. Indian hockey was once a reigning power. India has won the most gold medals in hockey in the history of the Olympics, 8. However, after the year 1980, the level kept declining and there were some years when India did not even qualify for the Olympics. Now the sounds of the old days are being heard. It is possible that India may repeat the 44-year-old history by winning gold again.
India last won gold in hockey in the year 1980
India last won the eight Olympic gold medals in Moscow in 1980. Now it has a chance to create history in Paris after 44 years. Even if India wins the semi-finals, it will ensure a silver medal, which India last won in Rome in 1960. India played with ten players for about 40 minutes against Britain because Amit Rohidas was shown a red card. Rohit has been banned for one match, which means he will not be able to be a part of the Indian team even in the semi-finals. Hockey India has appealed against this, however. It is believed that the decision on this will come before the match starts. India will also miss Rohidas’ absence in penalty corners.
India defeated Great Britain in the penalty shootout
Despite being reduced to ten players in the quarter-finals against Britain, the courage and skill displayed by the Indian team to take the match to penalty shootout is commendable. Hero Sreejesh, who saved Germany’s penalty in the bronze medal match of Tokyo Olympics and won India a medal after 41 years, once again became the architect of victory. He saved two shots of Britain in the shootout and before that, within the stipulated time, Britain attacked the Indian goal 28 times and made ten penalty corners, but got only one success. This is Sreejesh’s last tournament and he would like to bid farewell with a gold medal. Sreejesh said after the match that when he came on the field, there were only two options. This could have been my last match or I would have had the opportunity to play two more matches. Now I have the opportunity to play two more matches.
The Indian team lost only one match in the league stage
The Indian hockey team has performed brilliantly in this year’s Olympics. India had teams like Australia and Belgium in its group, but despite this, India entered the quarter-finals as the number two team. India lost only to Belgium, while the match with Argentina ended in a draw, Team India managed to win all the other matches. Now the Indian team is just two steps away from the gold medal. While on one hand India will face Germany in the semi-finals, in the other semi-final the teams of Spain and Netherlands will clash with each other. That is, if the Indian team manages to win its match, then any team from Spain or Netherlands can meet in the final. In such a situation, Team India can win the gold by defeating them too.
(pti inputs)
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