Tokyo Olympics: Indian men’s hockey team beats G Britain, enters semi-finals

The Indian men’s hockey team, on Sunday, defeated Great Britain 3-1 in a quarterfinal match to qualify for the semifinals of the Olympics Games after 49 years. 

India scored three field goals through Dilpreet Singh (7th minute), Gurjant Singh (16th) and Hardik Singh (57th) to seal the win for the eight-time Olympic champions.

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The lone goal for Great Britain was scored by Sam Ward in the 45th minute.

Even though India’s last of the eight Olympic gold medals came way back in 1980 Moscow Games, there were no semifinals in that edition as only six teams participated in the event.

The last time India featured in the semifinals of the Olympics was in 1972 Munich Games where they lost 0-2 to arch-rivals Pakistan.

India will take on world champions Belgium in the semifinal on Tuesday.

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Belgium defeated Spain 3-1 in another quarterfinal to seal their place in the last four round.

The other semifinal of the men’s hockey competition will be played between Australia and Germany.

Meanwhile, Indian shuttler PV Sindhu won a bronze medal in the women’s singles event. The 26-year-old became the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals. Sindhu defeated eighth seed Bing Jiao 21-13 21-15 to add a bronze to her silver that she had secured at the 2016 Rio Games.  

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate Sindhu. “We are all elated by the stellar performance by @Pvsindhu1. Congratulations to her on winning the Bronze at @Tokyo2020. She is India’s pride and one of our most outstanding Olympians,” he wrote. 

Indian women’s hockey team had also qualified for the quarter-finals on Saturday.