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Olympics: India inches closer to hockey quarterfinals courtesy of Captain's goals
India now looks ahead to play the remaining two top teams – Belgium and Australia – to wrap up its round of group matches.
Indian Hockey contingent with PT Usha. / X/@WeAreTeamIndia
Indian Hockey captain, Harmanpreet Singh, scored a brace against Ireland to bring India closer to a quarterfinal berth in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Leading from the front, the captain has scored goals in all three games played by India so far.
His penalty stroke conversion in the 58th minute against New Zealand gave India a 3-2 win on July 27 while his penalty corner conversion in the 59th minute helped India snatch a point from the jaws of defeat against the 2016 Olympic champions Argentina on July 29.
On July 30, Harmanpreet scored both goals for India against Ireland to take his tally to four. With a clean slate so far, India has taken its points tally to seven while Ireland remains at the bottom with no point from three games. Ireland lost to Belgium (0-2) and Australia (1-2) in its earlier games.
The Men in Blue started their third game on an impressive note by building pressure right from the start. With proper coordination and well worked out moves, Indian players were all over their opponent’s territory. Their move paid dividends when India took the lead in the 11th minute through a penalty stroke conversion by Harmanpreet Singh.
The stroke was awarded after an amazing move between Mandeep Singh and Gurjant Singh that ended in the Irish goalkeeper charging into Gurjant Singh while he was attempting a shot at the goal. India could have consolidated the lead but for delay in taking shots at the goal. it was Lalit who missed in chance in the 17th minute.
A brilliant team performance helped us earn those crucial 3 points in the group stage against Ireland today.
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 30, 2024
We started with a strong attacking intent in Q1 and the momentum led us to a penalty stroke which was converted with by Harmanpreet Singh.
Q2 began with the same… pic.twitter.com/VQZUgS8hSC
Since the game was played in hot and humid conditions with temperature hovering around 34 degrees Celsius, it impacted the performance of players on both sides. In the final stages of the game, when Ireland asked for a video referral to get its last and ninth penalty corner, players of both sides could be seen squatting on the playfield, a scene that is rarely witnessed at this level of hockey.
Realizing that the heat was too much, the Technical Committee has decided to double the time of breaks between two quarters—from two minutes to four minutes—so that the players could replenish the body fluids.
Immediately after the first quarter, India consolidated its lead in the 18th minute when it earned two penalty corners in succession. From the second, Harmanpreet flicked the ball into the net give India a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Ireland plays tough and robust hockey. True to its style, it had Indian defence on its toes for most of the time in the third quarter and in patches in the fourth. If India survived, it was either because of off target shooting by Irish forwards or some excellent goalkeeping by veteran Indian custodian PR Sreejesh.
In the third quarter, Walker Benjamin shot wide with an empty goal in front of him. The men in green shirts earned nine penalty corners but failed to make use of any.
Many Indian expatriates from Europe in general and France in particular turned up to cheer the Indian team and were all jubilant at the outcome of the game. India now looks ahead to play the remaining two top teams – Belgium and Australia – to wrap up its round of group matches.
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