India ended their 49-year wait at the Olympics on Sunday by reaching the men's hockey semi-final after a comprehensive 3-1 win over Great Britain in their quarterfinal at Tokyo 2020.
Dilpreet Singh gave India the lead in the 7th minute of the first quarter through a field goal. It was Dilpreet's second goal of this Olympics and his second field goal as well.
Gurjant Singh then doubled the lead for the Men in Blue as soon as the second quarter began, with his second goal of the Tokyo Games.
However, India conceded just towards the end of the 3rd quarter. There were nerves, considering how India have agonisingly bowed out of major competitions by losing the crunch moments. But it was not the case on Sunday. Hardik Singh scored towards the end of the 4th quarter to put the game to bed.
There were tears of joy for Manpreet Singh and his men who have had several agonising exits from major tournaments in the recent past. They held their nerve and continued their fine run to make it to the last 4 for the first time since the 1080 Gold-medal winning side finished on the podium.
This is the first time since 1972 that the Indian team qualified for the Olympic semifinals where they will face world champions Belgium on August 3 at the Oi Hockey Stadium, North Pitch. It's also the first time India have made it to the final 4 since their Goldmedal-winning run in 1980.
The Manpreet-Singh led Indian team has been in really good form at this Olympics with 4 wins out of 5 games, their only loss coming against Australia. The defeat against the Kookaburras pushed India to second position in Pool A with 12 points while the Aussies finished one ahead.
Great Britain, on the other hand, finished third in Pool B with two wins, as many losses and one draw.
During this run India also managed to grab its highest-ever ranking on the world stage. India now occupy the third spot behind only Australia and Belgium in the latest FIH rankings, which is their best effort since the system was introduced in 2003.
India's defence looked a bit fragile in the lead up to the Olympics and it was also exposed during the Australia defeat but the boys pulled their socks up in the next three games against Spain, Argentina and Japan to reach the last-8.
