Indian Women’s create history, beat Australia in Quarterfinal 1-0 to March into first Olympic Semi-final
India beats Australia: The Indian women’s hockey team scripted history on Monday by qualifying for the Olympic Games semifinals for the first time. After beating three-time champions Australia by a solitary goal in Tokyo.
A goal that will go in the history books! 🙌
Watch Gurjit Kaur’s brilliant drag flick that led #IND to a 1-0 win over #AUS in an epic quarter-final 😍#Tokyo2020 | #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Hockey | #BestOfTokyo pic.twitter.com/MkXqjprLxo
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 2, 2021
A day after the Indian men’s team entered the Olympic semifinals following a 49-year gap. The world number 9 women’s side also entered the history books with a phenomenally gritty performance.
Coming into the match, the odds were totally against India as the world no.2 Australia, a mighty unbeaten opponent. And they awaited them in the last four round.
Emotions running high ! 🇮🇳
Bleeding Blue 💙Super proud of you girls. 👏👏@imranirampal @savitahockey and Team. What a control , beating world No 2 in QF. India, is cheering for you. #ChakDe 🏑👏👏👏🥳🥳 pic.twitter.com/p0dCHfhv72
— Dept of Sports MYAS (@IndiaSports) August 2, 2021
But the Indians, determined to prove a point, produced a strong and brave performance to eke out the narrow win over the Hockeyroos.
Drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur rose to the occasion. When it mattered and converted India’s lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise the Australians.
Semi-finals on the Way for both Men’s & Women’s Hockey Team
India’s best performance in the Olympics came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams.
In that edition of the Games, women’s hockey made its debut in the Olympics and the sport was played in a round-robin format with top two teams qualifying for the final.
The Rani Rampal-led side will play Argentina in the semifinal on Wednesday.