Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of Law and Justice, praised the Indian men's hockey team for clinching the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The Indian boys defeated Germany 5-4 to clinch the first medal in 41 years in hockey at the Games.
Taking to Twitter, Thakur wrote: "A BILLION CHEERS for INDIA! Boys, you've done it ! We can't keep calm ! #TeamIndia! Our Men's Hockey Team dominated and defined their destiny in the Olympic history books today, yet again ! We are extremely proud of you!"
Taking to Twitter, Rijiju wrote: "After 41 years wait..! A golden moment for Indian Hockey and Indian Sports! Finally, long wait is over as India defeated Germany to win Hockey Men's Olympic Bronze medal at #Tokyo2020. India in complete celebration mood! Congratulations to our Hockey players !! #Cheer4India."
The Men in Blue showed absolute resilience, strength, and winning spirit to register a remarkable comeback win against a strong German team. The German team got off the block very quickly in the first quarter after the Indian defence was caught napping. Timur Oruz scored past Sreejesh from the scramble in the D.
Graham Reid's men responded well in the second quarter as the team scored a brilliant field goal from the counterattack. Nilakanta found Simranjeet with a long ball into the D and he finished the move brilliantly on the turn. Germany soon regained their lead from the goal by Wellen on the counter. After that, the floodgates of goals opened for both teams as Furk capitalised on the error of Surender to give Germany a 3-1 lead in the game.
India again came back in the game as Hardik Singh pounced on Harmanpreet's drag-flick to peg the Germans one back. In the dying moments of the first half, Harmanpreet Singh again came clutch for India with his superb drag-flick to level the match 3-3. The second half started with a bang for the Men in Blue as Rupinder Pal Singh converted a penalty stroke and in the preceding phase, Germany lost their referral too. For the fifth goal for India, Gurjant beautifully outran the German defender on the right flank to find Simranjeet in the center as he scored his second of the match.
In the fourth quarter of the match, Windfeder converted the PC as he smashed the ball through the legs of Sreejesh and reduced the lead of India by one goal. But Indian defenders held on after that.
( With inputs from ANI )
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