Goals from Simranjeeet Singh, Hardik Singh, Rupinderpal Singh, and skipper Harmanpreet Singh were enough for Team India to secure the Bronze medal in men’s hockey.
It took 41 years, but the dream of every Indian was finally realized on Thursday as the men’s hockey team beat Germany 5-4 to win the bronze medal here at the Oi Hockey Stadium — North Pitch.
The Men in Blue showed absolute resilience, strength, and winning spirit to register remarkable comeback win against strong German team.
The German team got off the block very quickly in the first quarter after the Indian defense was caught napping. Timur Oruz scored past Sreejesh from the scramble in the D.
The European team continued with their relentless pressure and got series of penalty corners which the Indian defense withheld brilliantly during the dying moments of the first fifteen minutes.
Tokyo Olympics 2020: India vs Germany hockey highlights, men’s hockey
Germany took an early lead in the match with a goal from the very first attack. A reverse hit from Herzbruch in front of goal was to save by India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. However, Timur Oruz converted the rebound to give the team the lead.
Germany kept the pressure and once again brought Sreejesh into action as he made a great save from his left hand off a deflection from a German stick.
However, India was finding it difficult to deal with waves of the German attack with Sreejesh standing like a wall between the goal and German attack.
In the second quarter, India managed to find the equalizer courtesy of Simranjeeet. India started a counterattack with Hardik Singh intercepting the ball and passing it to Nilakanta.
He turned and struck a tomahawk shot into the nets. The German team however was immediate with its response by scoring the second goal.
India’s poor defending led to Germany doubling their lead through Furk after Surender Kumar lost possession inside the circle after being double to teamed by German players.
The second half started with a bang for the Men in Blue as Rupinder Pal Singh converted a penalty stroke. And in the preceding phase, Germany lost their referral too.
For fifth goal for India, Gurjant beautifully outran the German defender on right flank to find Simranjeet in the center.
But Indian defenders made sure to give no chance to German team to create any upset as they saw match.