 "After defeating Great Britain in the quarter-finals, the India men's hockey team will face either Argentina or Germany in the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics. AP")
India men’s hockey team defeated Great Britain 4-2 via a shoot-out in a thrilling quarter-final of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday, thus securing their place in the semi-finals. India will take on Germany in the semi-final on 6 August after Germany defeated Argentina 3-2 in another quarter-final.
Paris Olympics 2024: Day 9 LIVE Updates
India started strongly and at the end of the first quarter they won three penalty corners but Ollie Payne, the Great Britain goalkeeper made a few fine saves to keep the contest evenly poised.
In the 16th minute of the contest, defender Amit Rohidas was handed a red card after being involved in a one-on-one with Great Britain’s Will Calnan. On this occasion, Rohidas was declared to have intentionally lifted his hockey stick in a dangerous position. That meant Rohidas immediately received a red card and India went on to play with 10 men for 43 minutes.
India opened the scoring on the back of Harmanpreet Singh in the 22nd minute via a penalty corner. That was the India captain’s seventh goal at the Paris Olympics. However, India’s lead only lasted for five minutes, as Great Britain equalised via Lee Morton in the 27th minute. Sreejesh initially defended a low cross from Lee Morton, but in the rebound, Morton received the ball once again and scored from a close range.
This was followed by a defensive masterpiece by India in the match. Former captain Manpreet Singh switched to central defence in Rohidas’ absence and made a few decisive saves to prevent Great Britain from scoring.
Britain dominated the third quarter and did not allow India to enter their half but they failed to break the deadlock. They created more scoring opportunities in the dying moments of the match in the fourth quarter but could not get a goal as an inspired Sreejesh forced the game into the shoot-out.
Both India and Great Britain began the shoot-out neck-to-neck and the scores were levelled 2-2 at the start before Connor Williamson fired his shot wide and Sreejesh made a crucial save against Phillip Roper.
For India, Harmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Rajkumar Pal converted their attempts.