India ends hockey medal drought after 41 years with Olympics bronze.

Till 5th August 2021, India has secured 4 Olympics medals, 1 silver and three bronze in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.  After 41 years of hard work and relenting support and effort by the team, coaches, and the support staff, Indian Male The hockey team won a bronze medal against Germany by 5-4. The last time India had won a hockey medal at the Olympics was in 1980. Thanks to an edge-of-your-seat thriller of a bronze medal match against Germany, the jinx has finally been broken. India played the semi-finals against Belgium but was defeated. Dedicated enough to get a medal in the Tokyo Olympics, Indian hockey team played head-on with the German team. Germany had taken the Indian hockey team by surprise with their early pace, forcing action to be concentrated in the Indian circle. Timor Oruz made the most of a goalmouth melee following a reverse hit to tickle in the first goal in the second minute. Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was already having to rush out to make his spectacular saves. By the end of the first quarter, Germany was given four successive penalty corners but the Indian team came through with the excessive pressure without any harm. They worked flawlessly under extreme stress and pressure. The Indian team came back head-on, with full power and intent to attack in the second quarter, equalising in just two minutes. Nilakanta Sharma found Simranjeet Singh was in the circle with a long ball from the centre; Simranjeet whirled around, dodged a defender and slammed in a powerful reverse hit. Germans zoomed-in in a thinly-manned circle of team India and scored a goal putting them ahead at 2-1. By the 25th minute, Germany was at 3 while India was still at 1. The Indian team stuck to its forward pressing ways and hit back with two penalty corners. Even after being under the strain of a two-goal deficit, Harmanpreet Singh fired his drag-flicks levelling the match at 3-3. With another penalty by Rupinder, India went ahead for the first time with a score of 4-3. India had made little headway on either flank for much of the match. They made up for that now with a terrific incursion on the right edge. India scored its fourth consecutive goal and went to a score of 5-3. The Germans leaked penalty corners and cars, but nothing seemed to work against the Indian team tearing into the opposing circle. Germany missed three successive penalty corners but missed. Germany took out their goalie in the dying minutes. There were shades of their last-minute goal at Rio 2016 with their 13th penalty corner in the final seconds. Fittingly, PR Sreejesh saved for one last time at the Oi Hockey Stadium to ensure the bronze for India. This medal means more than anything else to India as, after 41 long years, India finally won a medal in hockey. IT is special as India was once an undefeated hockey champion with Olympic Gold medals in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964 and 1980, a silver in 1960 and a bronze in 1968, 1972 and finally in 2021.