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On Friday, August 2, the Indian men’s hockey team defeated Australia 3-2 at the Paris Olympics 2024, to give themselves the best chance to finish in second place in Pool B. At the Stade Yves-du-Manoir, India and Australia played some enterprising hockey, mixed with sustained attack and defence before their respective quarter-final matches.
In the first quarter, India and Australia made continuous circle penetrations in each other’s half, to put the defences under some pressure. In the 12th minute, Abhishek turned and flicked the ball past the Australian goalkeeper, Andrew Charter, on the counterattack to put India in a 1-0 lead.
Just a minute later, India went up 2-0 after their captain Harmanpreet Singh converted the first penalty corner of the match past the left of Andrew Charter. After going down two goals, Australia turned up the intensity and the frequency of their attacks, but the Indian goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh made some critical saves.
But, in the 25th minute, after Australia scuffed a penalty corner, they kept their wits about themselves to reduce the deficit to one after Thomas Craig deflected the ball off the rebound into the goal. India went into half-time with a 2-1 lead over Australia, but the match was nicely poised due to the quality of the attack of both teams.
The start of the third quarter was brilliant for India when Harmanpreet Singh’s penalty corner was stopped on the line by the Australian defender, resulting in a penalty stroke. The Indian captain converted it into a goal to give the team a 3-1 lead over Australia in the 32nd minute.
The fourth quarter saw India put the ball in the back of the net only for the referee to overturn the decision on review due to Mandeep Singh’s stick tackle. In the 55th minute, Australia earned a penalty stroke, which was converted by Blake Govers to make it 2-3.
In the latter stages, India held firm in defence to register their first win against Australia at the Olympics in more than 50 years.
