In the penalty shootout, the Hamanpreet-led Indian hockey team defeated Great Britain by a score of 4-2 to advance to the Paris Olympics 2024 semifinals for the second time in a row. After Amit Rohidas received a red card for raising his stick against an English player, India was reduced to ten men. The Indian hockey team used a strong defense with ten players to hold Great Britain to a 1-1 draw. India won a historic penalty shootout thanks to goals from Harmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet, Lalit, and Rajkumar Pal. In the previous edition of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Indian hockey team also defeated Great Britain. In the current competition, the Indian hockey team will undoubtedly try to change the color of their medal.
Shreejesh speaks on his heroics
PR Sreejesh was one of India's main men and it was his heroics that helped India qualify in the semi-finals for the second time in a row. India was down to 10 men and he did not allow that to push them on the backfoot.
"See when I stepped on this field today. There were two options for me. This could be my last match, or I get an opportunity for two more matches. And I think yeah, I got two more matches. Nothing special. But when Amit got the card, I thought, I just want to play the best for him because he is an asset to me as a defender. And I thought somewhere it all showed, the hard work, the dedication and the tough mentality because almost two, I mean most of the matches we played one match down, so that's a great effort from the team" Sreejesh told the broadcasters after India's win.
"It's the daily job of a goalkeeper, and the English goalkeeper is also very good. But some days it's a different day for another person, and I think it was our day. We did everything we could and what should I say? It's like, yeah, even in the shootout, the guys who took the shot did not disappoint. They scored enough goals, so that gave me enough confidence to continue with that. I got two balls and we won it," he added.
Talking about India's performance in Paris Olympics 2024, India started it with a 3-2 victory over New Zealand. After this, in the second match he tied Argentina 1-1. After this, the Indian team defeated Ireland 2-0 in the third match. However, India lost in the fourth match and was defeated by Belgium 2-1. But after this, the Indian team made a strong comeback and defeated Great Britain.
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