India
In a thrilling conclusion to their Pool B campaign, the India men’s hockey team achieved a memorable 3-2 victory over Tokyo Games silver medallists and long-time rivals Australia on Friday. Skipper Harmanpreet Singh led the charge with two goals, guiding India to their first Olympic win against the Kookaburras since the 1972 Munich Games.
Despite already securing a quarterfinal berth before this match, the Indian team showed remarkable determination and dominated the game for most of the contest.
India seemed to have reserved their best performance for this crucial encounter, delivering an assertive display from the outset. They executed an aggressive attacking strategy while maintaining solid defensive composure throughout the match, effectively neutralizing Australia’s advances.
Abhishek (12th minute) and Harmanpreet (13th, 33rd) scored for India, while Tom Craig (25th) and Blake Govers (55th) netted goals for Australia.
With this win, India is likely to finish their pool engagements in second place with nine points, behind table toppers Belgium (12), who still have a match to play. The top position will not change even if Belgium loses to Argentina, as the final placing will be determined by goal difference after that match. India started aggressively, making two circle entries in the first two minutes.
Veteran India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, playing his last international tournament, was solid in front of the goal, making vital saves to deny the Kookaburras. In the 11th minute, Sreejesh made his first save against Tom Wickham, resulting in a penalty corner. However, Jeremy Hayward’s shot was off target.
Jarmanpreet Singh fired a pass to Sukhjeet Singh from the right flank, but Sukhjeet couldn’t stop the powerful strike. The strong Australian defense foiled his attempt by the time he gathered the ball and was ready to strike.
Australia created two back-to-back opportunities, but the Indian defense was rock solid.
India stunned Australia by taking the lead through Abhishek in the 12th minute. Lalit received a pass in an empty D, attempted a shot, but it was saved by goalie Andrew Charter. Abhishek got the rebound, turned, and hammered the ball past Charter.
A minute later, India got a penalty corner when the ball touched Jake Harvie’s foot, and Harmanpreet beat Charter’s defense with a fierce grounded flick.
Tim Brand had an opportunity to reduce the deficit early in the second quarter but struck the ball wide.
Australia earned their second penalty corner in the 19th minute, but Govers’ shot was blocked by Sreejesh.
Vice-captain Hardik Singh was a livewire in the midfield, consistently feeding the forwards.
Australia got their third short corner in the 25th minute. It was a poor injection from skipper Aran Zalewski, but the Australians recovered quickly, passing it to an unmarked Craig at the second post, who deflected the ball in.
India also got a penalty corner soon, but Harmanpreet’s strike was kept at bay by Charter. India led 2-1 at halftime.
India got their third penalty corner when Manpreet Singh was tackled by an Australian defender. Harmanpreet’s goalmouth strike was obstructed by Flynn Ogilvie. India took a referral, resulting in a penalty stroke.
Harmanpreet made no mistake in converting the chance.
Australia earned another short corner seconds before the third quarter ended but failed to utilize the chance.
India secured back-to-back penalty corners in the final quarter, only to waste them.
In the 53rd minute, Abhishek scored another fine goal after being fed by Mandeep Singh, but the goal was ruled out for a stick check.
Five minutes from the final hooter, Govers scored his seventh goal from a penalty stroke to reduce the margin.
Thereafter, the Indian defense stood tall to deny the Australians and register a famous win.
