The Indian women’s hockey team beat South Africa 4-3 in a thrilling encounter in their final Pool A match of the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
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The Indian women’s hockey team have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics after a 4-3 victory over South Africa in their final Pool A match, which was followed by Ireland’s defeat later on Saturday. Vandana Katariya was the star of the match as she scored a hat-trick. Neha Kumar also got on the score sheet for India to take the three points despite South Africa’s exceptional resilience. Marizen Marais, Erin Hunter and Christie Glasby scored the three goals for South Africa, but it wasn’t enough in the end. Later, Ireland were eliminated from the Olympics after a 2-0 loss to Great Britain. Hence, the Indian women’s hockey team have advanced to the quarterfinals as they finished fourth in Pool A. (Tokyo 2020 coverage)
India started the match positively and won their first penalty corner within one minute. But South Africa goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande made a wonderful save to keep Gurjit Kaur’s drag flick out of goal. Meanwhile India quickly won another penalty corner but couldn’t convert it. However Vandana Katariya found the breakthrough in the 4th minute. Navneet Kaur gave the ball to Vandana inside the ‘D’ after a brilliant run down the right flank. And the 29-year-old made no mistake as she slotted the ball in from close range.
South Africa took a bit of time to get going and made their first circle entry in the 13th minute. And they got the equalizer against the run of play in the 15th minute. Taryn Mallett’s long ground pass was deflected into goal by Glasby.
India once again started the second quarter on the brighter note and got back the lead through Vandana. It was a variation from the penalty corner. Deep Grace’s drag flick was diverted towards goal by Vandana. However South Africa once again leveled the score, this time through Erin Hunter. Lisa- Marie Deetlefs penalty corner was deflected towards Hunter by an Indian player and the South African skipper executed a simple finish from close range.
Intezaar ki ghadiyan khatam! ⏳
The Indian Women’s Hockey Team advance to the Quarter-Finals of #Tokyo2020.#HaiTayyar #IndiaKaGame #TeamIndia #TokyoTogether #StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites #WeAreTeamIndia #Hockey pic.twitter.com/IlEeoBO2QD
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 31, 2021
Sjoerd Marijne’s side once again took back the lead courtesy of a penalty corner variation. This time around, captain Rani Rampal’s drag flick was deflected in by Neha. But South Africa equalized yet again, this time through Marizen Marais’ impressive solo goal. Marais evaded tackles from Navjot Kaur and Rani Rampal before slotting the ball past the Indian goalkeeper Savita Punia.
Rani should have taken the lead in the last minute of third quarter, but the Indian forward was brilliantly denied by Mbande in a one-on-one situation.
Four minutes into the last quarter, India grabbed the lead once again from a penalty corner variation. Gurjit’s drag flick was deflected from close range by Vandana. It was her third goal of the match and she became the first Indian female hockey player to score a hat-trick in Olympics.
It was India’s second consecutive victory in the Tokyo Olympics campaign after their 1-0 win against Ireland in the previous match. And the back-to-back victories have now helped them to six points from five games.
