Despite the fact that India's last of eight Olympic gold medals came in the 1980 Games, there were no semifinals because only six teams competed.
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A resilient Indian men’s hockey side have beaten Great Britain 3-1 to reach the semifinal of the Olympics after 49 years on Sunday. India benefited from goalkeeper PR Sreejesh’s incredible performance to register a memorable victory against Great Britain in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. They will next take on World Champions Belgium for a place in the final. The last time India won a medal was in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games when the team led by V Baskaran won the eighth gold medal for the country. Despite the fact that India’s last of eight Olympic gold medals came in the 1980 Games, there were no semifinals because only six teams competed. The last time India reached the Olympic semifinals was in 1972 when they were defeated 0-2 by arch-rival Pakistan in Munich.
Buoyed by their latest victory against Great Britain, India will now fancy their chances of beating Belgium in the last-four clash. The semifinal will undoubtedly be a very difficult test for the Manpreet Singh-led side. However, they will back themselves to beat Belgium following their impressive run of results in Tokyo so far. Earlier in the day, India got off to a great start, with Dilpreet Singh opening the scoring. Simranjeet stole the possession and passed it between the England defenders through to Dilpreet, who did the rest. India took a crucial lead, which they maintained till the end of the first quarter.
After an exciting game of Hockey, #TeamIndia emerges winner in the quarterfinal at the #Tokyo2020 to march into the semifinal. This is the first time since 1980, India will finish in the last 4, & will play an Olympics semifinal for the first time since 1972.#Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/AbR6Hzv50q
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) August 1, 2021
India then started the second quarter in the front foot as well. At the beginning of the quarter, Gurjant Singh doubled the country’s lead. Hardik intercepted the ball from a wayward pass from Britain and found Gurjant, who picked it up smartly inside the circle, turned to the other side, and hit it in the goal. The Manpreet Singh-led Indian team held on to the lead till the end of the half. On several occasions, they also needed their star goalkeeper PR Sreejesh to get them out of trouble in the first half.
Desperate for a goal, Great Britain pushed harder in the third quarter. Indian players took a defensive approach to see out the lead. At the end of the quarter, Great Britain got a flurry of penalty corners, and at the last kick of the quarter, they pulled one back through Samuel Ian Ward. However, they were not able to add to it in the final quarter as Hardik Singh sealed the game with a third in the dying minutes of the quarter.
The Indian team has been excellent at this Olympics, winning five of the six games they have played till now. Placed in Pool A, India managed four wins out of five games, with their only loss coming against Australia. The 1-7 hammering against the Kookaburras was the only blip in an otherwise near-perfect Olympics till now. India ended Pool A in second position with 12 points while the Aussies finished at the top.
Great Britain, on the other hand, finished third in Pool B with two wins, two losses, and one draw. India have thereby won four group matches and one knockout match till now. With a stern test against Belgium awaiting India next, the Manpreet Singh-led team will hope to continue their recent run.
