Agency :
India reached the semi-finals of the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympics for the first time since 1980 thanks to a 3-1 win over Britain on Sunday to set up a showdown with Belgium at the Tokyo Games.
Australia and Germany will contest the other semi-final.
India, who had won the last of their eight Olympic hockey gold medals at the 1980 Moscow Games, led 2-0 at halftime thanks to goals by Dilpreet Singh and Gurjant Singh. After conceding a goal in the 45th minute, India sealed the win when Hardik Singh made it 3-1 with just minutes left to play.
Belgium ended Spain’s run with a 3-1 victory, including two goals from top-scorer Alexander Hendrickx.
Earlier on Sunday, Australia reached the semi-finals by beating the Netherlands in a penalty shootout in sizzling Tokyo heat, while Germany overcame Argentina.
A powerful performance by goalkeeper Andrew Charter, who kept a clean sheet in the shootouts – won 3-0 by Australia after the score was 2-2 at the end of regular playing time – helped the Kookaburras win the match.
“It’s bloody amazing,” said Charter. “To come out here and carry the burden for a bit, it’s good for my confidence and it’s good for the team defensively moving forward.”
The Australians had pulled ahead twice in the game, thanks to two goals by Tom Wickham, only to see the hard-fighting Dutch side equalise through goals by Mink van der Weerden and Jeroen Hertzberger.
