The Indian men’s hockey team defeated Great Britain 3-1 in a quarterfinal match to qualify for the semifinals of Olympics Games after 49 years here on Sunday.
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. The last one, being a brilliant solo effort by Hardik as Indian took a sigh of relief after being dominated by the British for virtually the entirety of the third half.
After the first two goals by India, Great Britain came out all guns blazing in the second half of the match. The penetrated the Indian circle with ease and that too with a lot of frequency. India, aided by some brilliant goalkeeping by P.R Sreejesh did well to ward of the British threat.
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.
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.
