Harpal Singh Bedi
Hardik Singh, led the charge as India’s new look forward line came good when the team needed them most as former World champions overpowered Great Britain 3-1 on Sunday to set up a semifinal clash with Belgium in the Olympic Games at the Oi Hockey Stadium.
India thus took step closer to end the 41-year medal drought reserving the last fourth berth with help of goals from Dilpreet Singh ( 7′), Gurjant Singh (16′ ) Hardik Singh (57′). Samuel Ward (45′) was Great Britain’s lone goal scorer.
Interestingly this was the first match in this Olympic in which India failed to get a single penalty corner while Great Britain earned eight . Even again Australia which Manpreet led lost 1-7 they had forced five penalty corners.
India played by the script and started with aggression and structured attack. It was Nilakanta Sharma and Mandeep Singh who created the first opportunity for but the rival defenders foiled that move.
In the 7th minute, India struck a brilliant field goal set-up perfectly by Simranjeet Singh which was intercepted by Dilpreet Singh who pushed the ball between n goalkeeper Ollie Payne’s legs (1-0).
Within the first minute of the second quarter India made it 2-0 when Gurjant received the ball inside the circle, completed a quick turn only to position sent the ball home .
Great Britain, however, showed composure despite the early setback and maintained a good structure to create potential forays into the striking circle. Though they came close to converting a goal in the 28th minute with good teamwork by Zachary Wallace and James Gall, the effort did not result in a goal .
10-minute into the second session (third quarter) Great Britain worked on a comeback with better ball possession and improvised attack. But the defence remained calm to foil all the attacks.
Britain’s reduced the margin in the re-take of a penalty corner in the 45th minute. A surprise variation master-minded Philip Roper and executed accurately by Samuel Ward helped beat the Indian defenders (1-2) .
The fourth quarter began with Great Britain earning another PC. They worked a similar variation that earned them the first goal but this time, goalkeeper Sreejesh brought off a fine save.
Britain continued putting pressure with a superior display in attack and ball possession. However Sreejesh was excellent yet again at the post as he made a couple of brilliant saves.
The last six and half minutes of the match was tense when Manpreet Singh was awarded a yellow card when he made a diving tackle to halt the British attack.
The infringement saw Great Britain being awarded another PC. But the drag flick was well defended by Sreejesh
The dying moments were nail-biting but a brilliant display of skill and stick work by first-time Olympian Hardik Singh saw India secure a 3-1 lead.
He was fantastic with his speedy dribble to beat the British defenders only to drive into the circle and take a brilliant shot on goal, although the shot bounced off Payne’s pads, Hardik was quick to receive the rebound and make yet another attempt and this time it sounded the board past Payne in the 57th minute.