For the second Olympics in a row, the Indian men’s hockey team will be contending for bronze after going down to world champions Germany in the semi-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday.
India, fifth in hockey rankings, took the early initiative and went ahead through Harmanpreet Singh’s penalty corner (7’) in the first quarter. However, World No. 2 Germany bounced back through Gonzalo Peillat (18’) before Christopher Ruehr (27’) gave them the lead.
India, Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists, equalised through Sukhjeet Singh (36’) but a Marco Miltkau goal (54’) six minutes before the final hooter prevented India from making an appearance in the Olympics men’s hockey final for the first time since Moscow 1980.
India will take on Spain in the bronze medal match. World No. 8 Spain were blanked 4-0 by the Netherlands in their semi-final.
At the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in Colombes, India got off to a positive start and were awarded the first penalty corner of the match inside two minutes. Harmanpreet drew a save off opposition goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneebrg before India’s PR Sreejesh responded by making a save off Marco Miltkau.
It was India in the remainder of the first quarter as they put reigning world champions Germany under pressure with strong attacking combinations. Harmanpreet Singh finally broke the deadlock inside seven minutes to put his side ahead. It was his eighth goal at Paris 2024 and the Indian captain leads the scoring charts.
Germany began the second quarter in clinical fashion. Gonzalo Peillat scored from their first penalty corner to level proceedings at 1-1.
India missed a golden chance with Abhishek failing to hit the target at the 20th-minute mark. Lalit Upadhyay also failed to convert a strong chance just three minutes later.
Germany grew into the contest in the second quarter and were awarded a penalty stroke following a penalty corner. Christopher Ruehr went to the bottom left of Sreejesh’s goal to help his side take a 2-1 lead three minutes before the half-time hooter.
Barely a minute into the second half, Hardik Singh was inches away from levelling the tie after missing the post from a Harmanpreet penalty corner rebound. The Indian hockey team did restore parity when Sukhjeet Singh deflected Harmanpreet’s penalty corner into the net.
The remainder of the third quarter proved cagey as both sides chose caution over aggression.
Just two minutes into the final quarter, Sanjay made a remarkable block on the goal line to keep India in the contest. The German hockey team dominated proceedings early in the quarter with the Indian defence tested on a number of occasions.
Miltkau put Germany ahead with six minutes left after beating Sreejesh at the near post. India opting to sub off PR Sreejesh to bring on an extra attacker in search of the equaliser, faced a high-pressure situation from a penalty corner but managed to deal with it successfully.
Sukhjeet Singh and Shamsher Singh missed crucial chances in the last minute and failed to force the match to a penalty shootout. India previously defeated Great Britain in the quarter-finals in a shootout to make the last four.
India missed the services of defender Amit Rohidas in the semi-final after he received a one-match suspension for an offence in the match against Great Britain.
With a brace from Rupinder Pal Singh and a goal from Simranjeet Singh, India had blanked Spain 3-0 in the group stage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics en route to their bronze medal finish.
India will play their Paris 2024 Olympics hockey bronze medal match at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium on Friday.
Source: Olympics.com