By Harpal Singh Bedi
Luck deserted the Indian Women when they needed it most as despite putting up a spirited challenge, they went down 1-2 to Argentina in the Semi-Final of the Tokyo Olympics at the Oi Hockey Stadium on Wednesday.
Rani Rampaul led side played their hearts out but Argentine was a notch better than them especially in the 3rd and 4th quarter .And though Indian girls failed to make it to the finals they came out with heads held high. Gurjit Kaur put India into lead in the 2nd minute while Argentina captain María Noel Barrionuevo scored equalizer in 18th minute and winner in the 36th minute. All goals came off penalty corners.
India play Great Britain for bronze on Friday The Indians made a blistering start raiding the rival defence in the second minute which earned them earned them a penalty corner and Gurjit Kaur (2′), made no mistake in converting her drag flick to make it 1-0 leavin g the Latin Americans rattled.
Argentina retaliation came thick and fast as the penetrated into the Indian defense many a times and earned a Penalty Corner. However, the powerful drag flick was brilliantly deflected away by the defenders.
The two sides played toe-to-toe against each other in a fast-paced game for the rest of the quarter.
Argentina started aggressively in the second quarter and forced penalty corner which however was muffed.
The World no 2 team kept the pressure on that fetched them another penalty corner i. This time captain María Noel Barrionuevo was right on the target for the equalizer (1-1)
Buoyed by this equalizer the Argentinians took control of the proceedings for next five minutes , until Indian retaliation that came in the 11th minute earning them two Penalty Corners, however, the girls in blue couldn’t convert their opportunities.
In the third quarter Argentina made a brilliant run on the left flank in the third minute but failed to breach the defence .
India countered as Sharmila Devi made a great run on the left flank, however, the ball was intercepted by the defenders near the circle.
Argentina continued to put pressure and forced another penalty corner in the 5th minute .Barrionuevo converted another drag-flick to put her team 2-1 .And conversion turned out be the match winner.
The Indians tried to counter and made a few circle penetrations. However, the Indians couldn’t find a way to breach the defence.
Indians opened the last quarter aggressively and put pressure on the rival defence In the 5th minute Navneet Kaur and Monika in tandem created an opening . The former took a shot, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Soon after, they earned another penalty corner and Gurjit carried out the drag-flick, but her effort was saved brilliantly by the goalkeeper.
The Indians kept pressing hard and putting pressure on the Argentinians for the rest of the quarter. They created a chance to score in the final minute of the match, however, their shot was saved by the Goalkeeper.
The winners played out the final seconds of the match calmly and sealed a place in the Final.