History was written when the hooter was flown for the fourth and last time during the Indian women’s hockey team’s quarter-final match against Australia on Monday as the Indian women’s team made it to the Olympic semi-finals for the first time in history. Gurjit Kaur’s score from a penalty corner in the second quarter was enough for India to move on at the expense of three-time champions and world No. 2 Australia. India did well throughout the match and successfully defended nine penalty corners in the match.
“How was my heart? It’s still working. I was like… ggahh but it’s in every match for the last three games,” women’s team coach Sjoerd Marin said after the match.
“Hey man, what we have tried to do and what we have done is match by match. What can we improve in the next and the next one”, he said.
However, the Dutchman pointed out that his team was not particularly good at defending in the match.
“The defending was not good enough, especially in the circle. So we focused on that. It also helps to keep your mind away from winning and losing.
“It’s all about mindset. I told the girls that we have nothing to lose, so play for free and that’s what we did today. It’s like a dream come true. I think it’s really Chuck Give India.”
Coming into the match, the odds were all set against India as the world No. 2 Australia, a powerful unbeaten rival, awaited them.
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But the Indians, determined to prove their point, put up a strong and brave display to secure a narrow victory over HockeyRussia. Drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur reached the occasion when it mattered and converted India’s lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise Australia.
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India’s best performance at the Olympics came 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 Olympic debut and the games were played in a round-robin format, with the top two teams qualifying for the final.
Next up for Rani Rampal and her team is Argentina, who beat Germany 3-0 in the second quarter-final match.
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