Watch | Goal that led Indian womens hockey to maiden Olympic semi-final

The Indian
women’s hockey team secured a historic maiden Olympic semi-final berth with a
1-0 win over three-time champions and world number two side Australia on Monday.

Drag-flicker
Gurjit Kaur scored the game’s only goal, converting from a penalty corner in
the 22nd minute to give India a decisive lead.

Watch the
goal here:

Gurjit’s
record from penalty corners had been poor earlier in the tournament. India had
won 33 penalty corners in five Pool A matches, scoring from just four, with all
of them coming from variations.

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However,
the 25-year-old rose to the occasion when it counted the most, scoring directly
from the PC with a superb drag-flick.  

India
started slow against the Hockeyroos but grew in confidence as the game
progressed. Australia took the first shot at goal through Amrosia Malone but
Indian keeper Savita Punia deflected the shot onto the post.

The Indians
then adopted an aggressive approach and caught the Australians off guard a number
of times. The Aussies were lucky to not concede a goal in the first quarter, as
skipper Rani Rampal defected a shot from veteran striker Vandana Katariya hit
the back post.

India then
created another chance as Sharmila Devi was denied by Australian goalkeeper
Rachael Lynch in a one-on-one situation. The Australians then won a penalty
corner, which was well defended by India, with Gurjit scoring minutes later from
an Indian penalty corner.

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The rest of
the match was mostly played inside India’s half as Australia pressed relentlessly
for an equalizer, but India soaked up the pressure expertly to seal the win. Australia
secured four more penalty corners in the final eight minutes of the game but the
Indians stood firm in defence.

India’s
previous best performance at an Olympics came at the 1980 Moscow Games, where
they finished fourth out of six teams, with a round-robin system determining
the top two teams that played the final.