Tokyo 2020: Indian women's hockey team make history, enter semis for first time

The Indian womens hockey team scripted history on Monday by qualifying for the Olympic Games semifinals for the first time beating threetime champions Australia by a solitary goal hereA day after the Indian mens team entered the Olympic semifinals following a 49year gap the world no 9 womens side also entered the history books with a phenomenally gritty performanceComing into the match the odds were totally against India as in world no2 Australia a mighty unbeaten opponent awaited them in the last four roundBut the Indians determined to prove a point produced a strong and brave performance to eke out the narrow win over the HockeyroosDragflicker Gurjit Kaur rose to the occasion when it mattered and converted Indias lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise the AustraliansIndias best performance in the Olympics came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teamsIn that edition of the Games womens hockey made its debut in the Olympics and the sport was played in a roundrobin format with top two teams qualifying for the finalThe Rani Rampalled side will play Argentina in the semifinal on WednesdayOlympic gold medalwinning shooter Abhinav Bindra was among the first to congratulate the womens hockey team on their achievement He wrote on Twitter Incredible Morning So proud of our womenrsquos hockey team Nothing unites us the way sport does twomoretogoIncredible Morning So proud of our womenrsquos hockey team Nothing unites us the way sport does twomoretogomdash Abhinav A Bindra OLY Abhinav_Bindra August 2 2021Col Rajyavardhan Rathore also congratulated the womens hockey team for their feat He wrote Congratulations to the Flag of India Womenrsquos Hockey Team for entering the Olympic semifinals Yoursquove made India proud Best wishes for the next match Cheer4IndiaCongratulations to the Womenrsquos Hockey Team for entering the Olympic semifinals Yoursquove made India proud Best wishes for the next match Cheer4India pictwittercom1JLNz3dWU2mdash Col Rajyavardhan Rathore Ra_THORe August 2 2021Anurag Thakur wrote Splendid Performance Womenrsquos Hockey TeamIndia is scripting history with every move at Tokyo2020 Wersquore into the semifinals of the Olympics for the 1st time beating Australia 130 crore Indians Flag of India to the Womenrsquos Hockey Team ldquowersquore right behind yourdquoSplendid PerformanceWomenrsquos Hockey TeamIndia is scripting history with every move at Tokyo2020 Wersquore into the semifinals of the Olympics for the 1st time beating Australia130 crore Indians to theWomenrsquos Hockey Team ldquowersquore right behind yourdquo pictwittercomvusiXVCGdemdash Anurag Thakur ianuragthakur August 2 2021The Indian womens hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne also shared a photo with the team and had a nice caption Sorry family I coming again later Sorry family I coming again later pictwittercomh4uUTqx11Fmdash Sjoerd Marijne SjoerdMarijne August 2 2021Marijne also indulged in a funny banter with Shah Rukh Khan after the Indian womens heroic victoryThank you for all the support and love We will give everything again From The Real Coach httpstcoTpKTMuFLxtmdash Sjoerd Marijne SjoerdMarijne August 2 2021Also Read India hockey skipper Manpreet Singh We were ready to die on the fieldThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever