The Paris Olympics 2024 witnessed an exciting contest between India and Great Britain on Sunday. India beat Great Britain in the men’s hockey first quarter-final to book their place in the semi-finals. India has qualified for the semi-finals of the Olympics for the second time in a row. The match was tied 1-1 at full time, after which the result went to a penalty shootout. India won the shootout 4-2. Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh once again became a wall. He made two saves for England in the shootout. Captain Harmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Rajkumar Pal scored the goals. Along with this, James Albury and Jack Vallance scored goals for Great Britain.
India played with 10 players.
No goals could be scored in the first quarter. However, India suffered a major blow in the 17th minute when Amit Rohit Das was shown a red card. He had to leave the field and India had to play the rest of the match with 10 players. Captain Harmanpreet opened India’s account in the match. India got a penalty corner in the 22nd minute which Harmanpreet converted into a goal. This was Harmanpreet’s seventh goal in the Paris Olympics. However, Bridget equalized shortly after. Lee Morton scored in the 27th minute and the score remained 1-1 until Carter’s second.
Great Britain attacked the Indian goal 28 times.
We have to appreciate the Indian defense led by the 36-year-old Sreejesh who fended off every British attack and did not let them take the lead. Great Britain attacked the Indian goal 28 times and managed only one success. In the third quarter, the Indian team again struggled to control the ball. Great Britain played aggressively from the first minute and in the 36th minute they were awarded a penalty corner, which was saved by Sreejesh from Furlong. In the fourth quarter, Great Britain continued to attack but India did not score despite having ten men. Neither team could score in the third and fourth quarters.
The Indian team repeated this history
The Indian men’s hockey team has made history at the Tokyo Olympics again. In 2021, India entered the semi-finals after defeating Great Britain in the quarter-finals in Tokyo. India then defeated Great Britain 3–1 but lost to Belgium in the semi-finals. However, the Indian team ended a drought of 41 years by defeating Germany in the bronze medal match. India will now try to change the color of its medal in Paris.
