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It was a watershed moment for Indian hockey as the women’s hockey team beat Australia 1-0 in a pulsating quarter-final match to storm into the semifinals of the Olympics for the first time in their history.
The women's hockey team ticked all the boxes and dished out a commendable performance. The Australians, ranked second in the world, had no answer on how to breach a tight Indian defense. The Indian hockey team attacked at will, took more possession of the ball at crucial junctures and had the belief in them that they could beat Australia.
Just days before, the Indian women’s hockey team were staring at an exit from the Tokyo Olympics 2021 having drawn a blank in the first three matches. However, they changed their strategies, worked on their shortcomings to beat Ireland and South Africa to enter into the knock-outs and have now created history.
Read: "Training with jackets in Bengaluru has helped us prepare for Tokyo" - Indian women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal
Former India women’s hockey team coach Rajinder Singh Jr., who coached the women’s hockey team in early 2000s, said the key to an Indian win was an all-round performance and specifically lauded the defense line for keeping the Australians at bay by not giving them an opportunity for long runs. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, he said:
“The girls were excellent in defense. The midfielders and the forwards also complemented them well. Australia is a team that relies on long runs and India never gave a chance for that. They read their opponent’s game well and executed all plans on cue. The girls did not give any room for Australia and this is one of the main reasons for the win.”
The Indian women’s hockey team was under the scanner for not converting penalty corner opportunities in the group stages. They missed scoring from 14 penalty corners against Great Britain and experts came down heavily on them for missing set-pieces, which could prove to be vital in the knock-outs.
It was only fitting that India scored against Australia through a penalty corner. Rajinder was happy that Gurjit Kaur’s drag flick was the difference between the two teams. He said:
“India played a very controlled game. I am happy to see them convert a penalty corner. She kept her cool and took the drag flick well.”
Indian women's hockey team marked their opponents well
The former Indian women’s coach said Australia were guilty of wrong passes and said it was also due to the fact that the Indian women’s hockey team were excellent at marking their opponents. He said:
“Australia were under pressure to win as they had come into this match with an impeccable record. They were the favorites to win the match and in the process they had a lot of wrong passes. The Indian marking was excellent. Everywhere the Australians went with the ball, two or three Indians were constantly behind them and that didn’t allow them to run away with the ball or play a counter-attack.”
Rajinder Singh Jr. hoped India would beat Argentina in the semi-final and go on to play the final. He exclaimed:
“I really hope we play the final by beating Argentina in the semi-final. There cannot be a better moment in Indian hockey than that. We have created history but need to do more. Against Argentina, we have to rely on our counter-attack. That will be the key.”
The Rani Rampal-led side will play Argentina in the semifinals on Wednesday.
