India men’s hockey team has defeated Germany to win the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. This is India’s first Olympic medal in hockey since they won the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
India saw Germany take an early lead with Timur Oruz scoring within two minutes of the match. Germany troubled Indian defense in the first quarter, but could not find a way to extend lead. In the 2nd quarter, India saw Simranjeet Singh scoring from a well-executed tomahawk shot, but defensive errors lead to Germany scoring two more goals within two minutes.
Just when it looked India might be in trouble, two penalty corners for India yielded results as Hardik Singh scored on the rebound from the first one, while Harmanpreet Singh scored another with a superb dragflick on to the back of the nets. Rupinder Pal Singh and Simranjeet Singh scored two more goals in third quarter. Lukas Windfeder pulled one back in the final quarter, but it was not enough for Germany to push it to the shootouts.
This is India’s fourth-medal (and fifth confirmed) in Tokyo so far. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won silver in the 48kg category, boxer Lovlina Borgohain won the bronze medal in the women’s welterweight category and shuttler PV Sindhu won a bronze medal in women’s singles competition. Meanwhile, wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya has also confirmed a medal and will compete in the gold medal bout on Thursday afternoon.
Congratulations to the team!
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