The Indian women’s hockey team created history on Monday as they qualified for the Olympic Games semifinals for the first time. The women in blue registered their win against three-time champions, Australia by a solitary goal at Oi Hockey Stadium — North Pitch. Even though the odds were completely against India as world no.2 Australia, a mighty unbeaten opponent, awaited them in the last four rounds. But team India faced them with determination to win.
Australia had conceded just one goal in the tournament so far, but the Indian players gave their best and did not allow Australia to dominate. India’s Gurjit Kaur scored the match’s only goal in the second quarter.
“It was a goal of the team, not just me,” Gurjit said. “It was a belief in ourselves and we deserve to be in the semis with our practice and work. We had huge pressure on ourselves in last minutes but we kept calm,” Gurjit said.
It is the first time that both the men’s and women’s hockey teams have made it to the semis of the same Olympics. Talking about men’s team also getting into semis, India women’s hockey team goalkeeper Savita Punia said, “It was a very positive sign that the men’s team reached the semis. We thought that we should stay along with them.”
The Rani Rampal-led side will play Argentina in the semifinal on Wednesday.