Indian’s women’s hockey team came with a lot of confidence after they lost a hard-fought semifinal match against Germany. Great Britain had beaten India in the pool matches but India was expected to win this match. India did everything right in their previous match other than conceding too many penalty corners. Same is what happened in this match as the score was 3-3 when Great Britain score the 4th goal after they were awarded a penalty corner. There’s no doubt that India’s 18 members women’s hockey team already did an unimaginable after they stunned the world beaters Australia in the quarterfinals. India’s women’s hockey best performance came in 1980 Moscow Olympics where they stood 4th of the 6 participating teams. Each quarter of the match had goals scored and was certainly one of the most dramatic matches of the competition.
In the first quarter, GB scored a goal and India were 1 goal behind. In the second quarter too, GB took the lead as they scored their second goal and it looked like India will be defeated with a heavy margin. Things changed dramatically as India scored three back to back goals in the space of 7 minutes and for the first time in the match were up with a 1 goal lead. It was Gurpreet Kaur who converted 2 penalty corners and helped India take the lead. India maintained the lead for a while but England scored an equalizer in the third quarter and India were also left without the services of Gurpreet Kaur as she suffered an injury. In the last quarter, India was shown the yellow card and GB took the number advantage and scored the 4th goal. India was on the turf with 10 girls for at least 9 minutes and GB started defending well to ensure that no more goals are scored from the Indians. India got a penalty corner as well and Gurpreet Kaur was also on the field but India failed to convert that chance and it all started looking bleak for the Indian women’s hockey team. GB used the last minutes well as they held on to possession and started hitting right to left. Their strategy worked as India were down and out and lost on an opportunity that came their way after a long wait. It was just not a setback for them but for the entire nation who woke up early to support the women’s hockey team. However, for all that they did during their campaign was commendable. Not just hocky but even the lone female wrestler left from the Indian contingent, Seema Bisla too left her 1st round match and is out of contention for a medal match as Sarra Hamdi has failed to reach the finals, so she won’t get a chance to go for the repechage round. One good news is that Aditi Ashok is 2nd after the round 3 and she is still in contention for a medal.
