10-man India defeat GB in shootout 1-1 (4-2) at Paris 2024, qualify for successive Olympic men's hockey semifinals for the first time in 52 years
The India men's hockey team came up with an outstanding performance to beat Great Britain in the shootout (4-2) after both teams were tied at 1-1 at the end of regulation time in the quarterfinals at Paris 2024 on Sunday (August 4). The Indians, who were down to 10 men after Amit Rohidas picked up a red card for what was deemed to be a deliberate reverse stick swing of the stick that caught Will Calnan on the face, defended with aplomb.
Goalkeeper Sreejesh came up with an array of brilliant saves to help the Indians advance to the semifinals of the men's hockey event at Paris 2024 for a second successive time.
Great Britain had the better of the exchanges in the opening quarter but failed to get the ball past Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh. Amit Rohidas' stick struck Will Calnan in the face in the 18th minute and the player from Sundargarh was shown a red card.
Craig Fulton's chargers maintained their composure before taking the lead off a Harmanpreet Singh drag-flick in the 22nd minute of play.
Lee Morton scored in the 27th minute after a sustained period of pressure from Great Britain to level things up in the men's hockey quarterfinal.
Despite being pushed to the brink, the Indian defense held firm in the face of some persistent aggression from Paul Revington's side who also appeared to lack creativity and coherence in the striking circle.
Young Conor Williamson missed his shootout under pressure as did the vastly experienced Phil Roper to hand India a marvellous Olympic win.
Raj Kumar Pal scored the winning shootout for the Indians after Harmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh and Lalit Upadhyay also beat Ollie Payne in goal.
The Indians have now qualified for back-to-back men's hockey semifinals at the Olympics for the first time in 52 years and await the winner of the late-evening quarterfinal between Argentina and Germany in the semifinals.
Indian men's hockey team makes it to successive Olympic semifinals after 52-year wait
The Indians have made it to an Olympic semifinal for the second successive time following their shootout win over Great Britain.
Back in the Tokyo Olympics, Graham Reid's team defeated Great Britain 3-2 to qualify for the semifinals of the men's hockey event for the first time since 1972.
The last time the Indians made it to back-to-back semifinals at the Olympics was also in 1972 after they had picked up a bronze medal at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
The Indian men will now aim to reach an Olympic final for the first time since Moscow 1980 when they take on the winners of the Germany-Argentina match in the big semifinal on Tuesday (August 6).