Who will India face in the men's hockey quarterfinals at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
The quarterfinal line-ups in the men's hockey event at the Paris Olympics 2024 have been decided following the conclusion of the pool stages. Four top teams from both pools have advanced to the knockout stage and will battle for semifinal spots on Sunday (August 4) at the Stade Yves du-Manoir.
The quarterfinal match-ups have turned out to be an exact repeat of the lineups from the last-eight stage at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021).
In the last of the matches in the preliminary round on Friday, Germany beat Great Britain 2-1 to finish at the top of Pool A and will take on Argentina, who ended up in fourth place in Pool B. The two sides faced off in the quarterfinals in Tokyo as well.
India will face Great Britain in a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics men's hockey quarterfinals. Australia will take on the Netherlands as they did at the Olympics three years ago while Belgium will play Spain as they did en route to a gold medal in Tokyo.
India, who lost to Great Britain twice at the recent FIH Pro League, will be wary of a team that has excelled in patches in Paris. Great Britain got the better of Spain 4-0 before being held to a 2-2 draw by South Africa in the pool stages in Paris. Paul Revington's team then drew 2-2 with the Netherlands and managed a narrow 2-1 win against hosts France.
Great Britain has won the Olympic men's hockey gold thrice, the most recent win coming in 1988 after which the team never registered a podium finish. In Tokyo, Great Britain's campaign came to an end at the quarterfinal stage following a 1-3 loss against India.
Who will end up as the leading goalscorer in men's hockey at Paris Olympics 2024?
With the able support of their fellow teammates, a few prolific goalscorers have been powering their respective sides to victory in style in the men's hockey competition at the Paris Olympics 2024.
While scoring from penalty corners has not been easy for any of the teams in the competition, the drag-flickers are playing a major part in how their sides perform at the Summer Games.
Australia's Blake Govers, who scored a hat-trick, comprising two short corners and one field goal against New Zealand, added to his tally in the match against India after converting a penalty stroke. He now has seven goals against his name, with India's Harmanpreet Singh close on his heels, having scored six from penalty corners and penalty strokes.
Belgium's Alexander Hendrickx, who ended up as the highest goalscorer at the Tokyo Olympics with a whopping tally of 14 goals, has scored just four goals thus far in Paris, as has his compatriot Tom Boon.
Jip Janssen of the Netherlands, Christopher Ruhr of Germany, and Jose Basterra of Spain have all scored four goals apiece and will have a chance to build on their count during the quarterfinals.