A confident Indian men’s hockey team rewrote history as it claimed an Olympic medal after 40 years, defeating a plucky Germany 5-4 to win the bronze in an edge-of-the-seat play-off match.
H S BEDI / SPORTS DESK
India won bronze medal in men’s hockey defeating Germany 5-4 in a high scoring match in Tokyo Olympics. As soon the match began, Germany,s Timur Oruz got an early lead for Germany. Simranjit Singh equalised for India in the second minute of the second quarter, which saw as many as five goals.
However, Niklas Wellen gave 2-1 lead to Germany which was soon turned to 3-1 with the third goal hit by Benedikt Furk. But India hit back almost immediately with two swift goals to equal the scores, 3-3. First, Hardik converted the penalty corner and then Harmanpreet Singh drag flicked the third one for India. As soon as the third quarter began, India took the 5-3 lead with Rupindar Pal Singh’s penalty stroke and Simranjit Singh’s second goal of the match.
Although Germany hit again in the fourth quarter and scored 4th goal, Indian men kept the lead intact till last minute. India has won 8 Olympic golds in Hockey, the last of which came four decades ago, in 1980 Moscow Games.
Captain Manpreet Singh : —I don’t know what to say right now, it was fantastic. The effort, the game, we were 3-1 down. I think we deserve this medal. We have worked so hard, the last 15 months were difficult for us also, we were in Bangalore and some of us got COVID also. It was difficult, they got a penalty corner in the last six seconds. We thought we have got to save it with our lives. It is really hard. I am speechless right now. We had a long gap when we didn’t get a medal. Now we will get more confidence, yes we can do it. If we can finish on podium in Olympics, we can finish on podium anywhere. We didn’t give up. We kept fighting back. It’s a great feeling, best feeling. We came here for the gold, we won bronze, it is still a great thing. It’s a great moment for all hockey fans,
In 1972 at Munich Olympic, Indians had lost to Pakistan in the semi-finals. In the Third-place match India defeated the Netherlands to claim the Bronze medal.
In 1980, India beat Spain in the finals to win Gold.
“Brilliant in Blue. Congratulations Indian Men’s Hockey Team on the spectacular victory to give us an Olympic medal after 41 long years. This historic win at Tokyo2020 will inspire generations of sportspersons. All the very best for future,” tweeted Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
In 2018, the Naveen Patnaik government had signed an agreement with Hockey India to sponsor both men’s and women’s national teams for five years.
