Indian Hockey Team Edge Close To History, As Does Sen!

After bitter disappointments on a hectic Olympics weekend for the Indian contingent where India's men and women came close but could not add to the medals tally, the men’s hockey team gave India a sensational win on Sunday afternoon.

The outstanding thrilling moments of the weekend belonged to Manu Bhaker in the women’s air pistol and also, in the semi final of the men’s single badminton semi final when Lakshya Sen pushed the no. 2 ranked Axelsen of Denmark, but could not match the heat.

Likewise expectations from the women’s archery too bit the dust when 18-year-old Bhajan Kaur put up a spirited performance, but it was not enough against her Indonesian opponent.

Deepika Kumari who did make the quarterfinal could not stop the Koreans and it meant that from medal pursuit, India had to settle for some stellar performances, without making the mark on the board tally.

Lakshya Sen became the unlikely medal contender in badminton in the men’s draw after PV Sindhu failed to progress beyond the round of 16 in the women’s singles section, which meant that she could not make history to become the first Indian Olympian to win three medals in three Olympics. Shock defeats were also meted out to Satwiksairaj Reddy and Chiraj Shetty as also, the loss of the Indian women when it came to archery or boxing, where Lovline Borgohain lost her 75 kg bout.

Manu Bhaker, who already made history with a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol shooting and also, made the podium in the mixed doubles with Sarabjot Singh became India’s hopeful to become the first with three Olympics medals and that too in one Olympics edition.

However, in what was expected to be a tough draw for Bhaker in the 25 m air pistol, the twenty-two year old still came within touching distance of a third, only to closed out ultimately in a tough fight to finish fourth, which by her own contention, was “not a great place to finish”.

That it was a tough competition for the best in the business was evident in how the battle for gold saw nerves from the French woman, Jedrzejewski, with South Korean J.I Yong pulling off a strong win. Hungary’s champion, Veronika Major, had to settle for third spot.

Later, she attributed her loss to nervousness and also, showed she was not beyond feeling absolutely gutted, knowing she had played out of skin for much of the competition this edition. But in what should be heartening for India, while she was inconsolable and grumpy in loss, she was already looking forward to strengthening her preparations for the next edition.

Despite Bhaker’s loss, it was still history for team India after a big week for India’s shooters. The three medals in shooting are India’s only medals, going into a week that will also see Neeraj Chopra looking to defend his gold from the Tokyo Olympics in the men’s javelin.

While Sen will still have the opportunity to play for bronze, it was still a big blow for India when the Danish player not only came back from setback after setback but also, in the end, proved too hot to handle for Sen.

To Sen’s credit, he was neck and neck with the Danish and even came close to getting the first set under his belt, playing his game with great acumen until it was game point after game point which he could not convert.

That, however, failed to dampen the young man’s ambitions, even putting the Dane in his place almost immediately, leading the second set by 7-0 at one point.

But credit to the Danish champion, he not only came back, but played more aggressively, chasing every brilliant stroke after stroke from Sen. He ultimately put it beyond Sen in the final inching moments, as Sen tried in vain to push the match into a third game.

Viktor Axelson eventually won the match 20-22, 14-21 which truly does not reflect how close he was to nearly losing his match, calling the match “one of his toughest,” and that he was “happy to have been able to relax and come back.”

“He (Sen) has shown through this Olympics he is one of the strongest competitors, amazing talent, great guy,” Axelson was effusive in his praise of his opponent across the net.

In the week ahead, India will expect more thrilling moments. Sen, the last standing badminton contender for India, did provide thrilling moments, albeit in vain. But Monday could still add to Sen’s ambitions, playing for the third place in the tournament.

If expectations were soaring sky high for the match featuring Sen on the badminton court, it was because the action was virtually breathless, the adrenaline still rushing through the veins after the Indian men’s hockey pulled off a thrilling match against Great Britain to make the semi finals.

There was always cautious anticipation around the men’s hockey team who pulled off a brilliant victory against Australia in their last round match, beating the Australians for the first time in 52 years. It would have been easy to relax after their early victories, but in the knockout section, the men did not let up the intensity which bodes well for India going into next week.

The Indian men’s team were already on the backfoot, being reduced to a 10 man team early by the 17th minutes when a red card was handed on review to Amit Roihdas after his handling of the hockey stick was considered unnatural and dangerous.

If the Indian team were shocked at the verdict, they rallied powerfully to score the first goal and made it hard for the Britain team in trying to edge India out of the knockout stage. Harmanpreet Singh scored his seventh goal of the tournament, when he converted a penalty corner to put India in the lead.

Eventually England did score to even the scale with Lee Morton scoring for Great Britain to pull England on part and it meant that at the end of full time, a shootout had become inevitable. It might have seemed unimaginable after the early Indian shock which meant India were playing 10 men for nearly three quarters of an hour before pulling off this stunning victory over a heartbroken Great Britain team.

What followed was a sensational play of the Indian men scoring by foxing the England goalie while India’s veteran goalkeeper, P. R. Sreejesh put his body and mind behind every England attempt, nearly a dozen through the match and in the shootout, with two England players missing the goal, handing India the shootout by a 4-2 margin.

The Indian men’s hockey team will now face either Germany or Argentina in the semi final with an opportunity to potentially win back-to-back medals after the unexpected bronze at the Tokyo Olympics or go even better if they can continue in this rich vein of form, passion and creativity.