India beat World No. 4 Australia, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, 3-2 in its final Paris 2024 Olympics hockey Pool B match on Friday. This is Indian men’s first Olympic win against Australia since 1972 in Munich.
India got off to a strong start by running up a 2-0 lead heading into the second quarter. Abhishek scored his second goal in as many games through open play in the 12th minute, while captain Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty corner (PC) in the 13th. The Aussies did get a few cracks at the Indian post in the first quarter, but goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh was more than up to the task.
MATCH |AS IT HAPPENED
Australia narrowed the lead to 1-2 at halftime with a goal from Thomas Craig in the 25th minute. In the third quarter, Harmanpreet extended India’s advantage to 3-1 by converting a penalty stroke after a successful video referral. The drag-flick from Harmanpreet had hit Flynn Ogilvie’s foot on the line, but the referee had failed to spot it prompting the review.
Australia fought hard in the final quarter and even gave India a scare when Blake Govers made it 3-2 from a penalty stroke. But India held its nerve to end the group stage on a high.
“Every win matters. Sometimes the result is in your favour, sometimes it isn’t,” Harmanpreet said after the match. “What you learn from the failures is what matters. As a team, we showed that if Australia is one of the best teams, we are also working hard to analyse and beat them. If we continue playing like this, we can beat anyone. Beating Australia isn’t the achievement; we’re still competing, and we know that the quarterfinals will be challenging.”
Prior to this match, the Indian men’s hockey team had already confirmed its quarterfinal berth. It won against Ireland and New Zealand and drew against 2016 Olympic champion Argentina. The Men in Blue suffered their only loss in the tournament this year against Belgium 1-2.
With 10 points from three wins in five matches, India heads confidently into the quarterfinals on August 4.
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