Published By: Saksham Mishra

When Indian women's hockey captured the nation's imagination

The heroic manner in which the Indian women's hockey team reached the semi-finals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics compelled the nation to drop everything they were doing and take notice.

The lull before the storm The start was not a great one for India as they lost all their first three matches in July; losing to Netherlands by 5-1, losing to Germany by 2-0, and to Great Britain by 4-1.

If they had lost their next match against Ireland, they would have been knocked out of the competition. However, they bounced back when their backs were against the wall, beating Ireland by 1-0 to register their first ever victory in the Olympics in 41 years.

Gaining momentum

The next clash was against South Africa. Even after India took a lead quite early on in the match, South Africa kept coming back and kept the Indian players under pressure.

India prevailed ultimately, courtesy of a hat-trick from Vandana Katariya who became the first Indian woman to score a hat-trick at the Olympics.

Great Britain's victory against Ireland in the group stage meant that India were successful in qualifying to the quarter finals where came the biggest surprise of them all.

Downing the mighty Aussies India were not given any chance in the quarters against second seed and multiple-time Olympic champions Australia who had not lost even a single match in the competition till then.

However, India brought their A game to the fore, beating Australia by a solitary goal from Gurjeet Kaur who hit a beautiful drag flick. But, the real star of the match was goalkeeper Savita Punia who saved 9 attempts and took India to the semi final.

An inspiration

The team tried their heart out against Argentina but lost the semi final by 2-1 on 4th August, 2021. Just 2 days later on 6th August, 2021 they were up against Great Britain who had already beaten them comprehensively by 4-1 in the competition earlier.

However, India gave Britain a run for their money and even took a lead at one point. Britain hit back to win the match 4-3 and crushed India's hopes of a bronze medal at the Olympics.

A medal might not have come but the 2020 Olympics have become a landmark in Indian women's hockey and will inspire thousands of girls to take up the sport in the years to come.