Indian women’s hockey team creates history, enters Olympic hockey semi-finals for the first time. Tokyo Olympics News – Times of India

Tokyo: A brave and determined Indian women’s hockey team entered the history books by entering Olympic Games In the semi-finals for the first time, three-time reigning champions and world number two Australia were beaten 1-0 in an intense last-eight clash here on Monday.
A day after the Indian men’s team entered the Olympic semi-finals after a gap of 49 years, world no. 9 The women’s side also performed brilliantly to make it to the last four.
Drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur reached the occasion when it mattered and converted India’s lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise Australia.
Coming into the match, the odds were all set against India as the world No. 2 Australia, a powerful unbeaten rival, awaited them.

Gurjeet said, “We are very happy, it is the result of the hard work that we put in for many, many days. In 1980, we qualified for the Games but this time, we made it to the semi-finals. It is a proud moment for us. It is,” said Gurjit. said after the match
“This team is like a family, we have supported each other and also got support from the country. We are very happy,” he said.
But the Indians, determined to prove their point, put up a strong and brave display to secure a narrow victory over HockeyRussia.
How much it means to the team and Indian hockey can be gauged from the sentiments displayed after the final hooter was played.
The players shouted, hugged each other, and tears of joy rolled down their faces as their Dutch coach Sjoerd Marin burst into tears.
India’s best performance at the Olympics dates back to the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams.
In that edition of the Games, women’s hockey made its Olympic debut and the games were played in a round-robin format, with the top two teams qualifying for the final.
The Rani Rampal-led side will take on Argentina in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

The Indians started off slowly, but as the match progressed, their confidence increased.
Australia made the first shot on goal but India’s goalkeeper Savita did enough to deny Amrosia Malone, whose shot hit the post from inside the circle.
After this the Indians took an aggressive stand and caught the Australian defense guard several times.
India’s pace and determination took the Australian by surprise as they panicked while defending and were lucky not to score a single goal in the first quarter.
Captain Rani Rampal’s deflection from Vandana Katariya’s shot in the ninth minute hit the back post as Australia survived.
A minute later, Brock Paris’ shot from the top of the circle overtook a fully stretched Savita.
The Indians created another chance in the first quarter but a cautious Australian goalkeeper Rachel Lynch pulled out of her line to deny Sharmila Devi a face-off position.

Australia worked hard in the second quarter and secured their first penalty corner in the 20th minute, which India defended brilliantly.
A few minutes later, India secured their first penalty corner and Gurjit, who had had a disappointing performance so far in the tournament, rose to the occasion and converted the opportunity with a short flick to stun the Aussies.
The Indians were daring and daring while defending, minutes later, Deep Grace Ekka found a crucial stick to keep Emily Chalker’s strong hit from close range.
A goal down, the Aussies attacked with numbers after a change of ends and Maria Williams came close to restoring parity but Savita was interrupted.
Australia soon got back three penalty corners but the Indian defense, led by Savita and Deep Grace Ekka, stood like a rock in front of the goal.
Back then, the game was mostly inside the Indian circle as Australia fought hard, but the Indians managed to take the pressure off with some brave defences, not afraid to put their bodies on the line.
In the final eight minutes of the game, the Indians were under constant pressure as Australia secured four more penalty corners but failed to sabotage the will of the Indian defence.