TOKYO: The Indian men’s hockey team’s dream of an Olympic gold after 41 years remained unfulfilled as it lost 2-5 to world champions Belgium in the last-four stage but the side is still in the hunt for a bronze in the Tokyo Games here on Tuesday.

India’s goals came from the sticks of Harmanpreet Singh (7th) and Mandeep Singh (8th).

India’s last appearance in the final of the Olympics came way back in 1980 Moscow Games, where they went on to win their last of the eight gold medals.

The Indians had only themselves to blame for Tuesday’s disappointment as Belgium’s all four goals came from penalty corners.

The Indian defence was put under relentless pressure by the Belgians as they secured as many as 14 penalty corners out of which they converted four.

Belgium’s game plan was clear from the onset as they tried to enter the Indian circle and earn penalty corners with Hendrickx and Luypaert in their ranks.

The ploy worked to perfection as the Indian defence wilted under pressure to concede the set pieces.

India too earned five penalty corners in the match but could make use of just one.

The Indians still have a chance to secure an elusive medal from the Olympics as they will feature in the bronze medal match on Thursday against the losing team from the second semifinal between Australia and Germany later in the day.

The Indians started slowly as Belgium had the initial burst of the match, controlling the proceedings for the first five minutes which also yielded them a goal.

Belgium scored from their first attack, earning a penalty corner which was converted by Luypaert with a powerful flick in the second minute.

The Indians came back strongly and changed the course of the match in a span of two minutes with two goals.

India secured two penalty corners in the seventh minute, the second of which was beautifully converted by Harmanpreet for his fifth goal of the tournament.

A minute later, Mandeep, who has been under pressure for his underwhelming form so far, gave India the lead with a fine field goal.

Mandeep beautifully received a Amit Rohidas cross from the right, turned over and found the back of the net with a fierce reverse hit past Vincent Vanasch in front of the Belgium goal.

India got another chance in the first quarter in the form of a penalty corner but Rupinder Pal Singh’s effort this time was saved by Vanasch.

Trailing by a goal, the Red Lions came out stronger in the second quarter and pressed hard on the Indian defence which wilted under pressure, conceding as many as four penalty corners, the last of which was converted by Hendrickx to level the scores.

Minutes later Sreejesh pulled of a reflex save to deny Dockier.

Belgium secured their sixth penalty corner of the match soon but it was well defended by the Indians.

A minute from half time, India were awarded a penalty corner and the effort by Harmanpreet this time was wide off the target.

The Belgians dominated in terms of circle penetrations after the change of ends but India defended stoutly with numbers to thwart any danger to their citadel.

The Indians got another golden chance to take the lead, earning their fifth penalty corner in the 38th minute but Belgium, this time, defended well.

With both the teams locked at two goals apiece after the third quarter, the stakes were high in the fourth and final quarter and it was the Red Lions who came out on top by breaching the Indian citadel thrice.

Belgium went on the offensive and secured three consecutive penalty corners in the 49th minute and again it was Hendrickx, who rose to the occasion for his side to hand them a 3-2 lead.

With a goal upfront, the Belgians kept up the pressure on the Indian defence, which was guilty of conceding three more penalty corners in quick succession, resulting in a penalty stroke for the world champions which was duly put into the goal by Hendrickx for his third goal of the match.

Trailing by two goals, a desperate India withdrew goalkeeper Sreejesh for an extra player but the move backfired as Dohmen slammed home in an empty net from a counter to shatter India’s hopes.

TOKYO: A brave and determined Indian women’s hockey team etched its name in the history books by entering the Olympic Games semifinals for the first time, stunning three-time champions and world no.2 Australia 1-0 in an intense last-eight tie here on Monday.

Drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur rose to the occasion when it mattered and converted India’s lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise the Australians.

Coming into the match, the odds were totally against India as in world no.2 Australia, a mighty unbeaten opponent, awaited them.

“We are so happy, it is the result of hard work that we put in for several, several days. In 1980, we qualified for the Games but this time, we made the semifinals. It is a proud moment for us,” Gurjit said after the match.

“This team is like a family, we have supported each other and found support from the country as well. We are very happy,” she added.

But the Indians, determined to prove a point, produced a strong and brave performance to eke out the narrow win over the Hockeyroos.

How much it meant for the team and Indian hockey in general could be gauged from the emotions that were on display after the final hooter went off.

The players screamed, hugged each other, and got into a huddle with their Dutch coach Sjoerd Marijne with tears of joy rolling down their faces.

India’s best performance in the Olympics came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams.

In that edition of the Games, women’s hockey made its debut in the Olympics and the sport was played in a round-robin format with top two teams qualifying for the final.

The Rani Rampal-led side will play Argentina in the semifinal on Wednesday.

The Indians started slow off the blocks but grew in confidence as the match progressed.

Australia had the first shot at the goal but India goalkeeper Savita did just enough to deny Amrosia Malone, whose slap shot from inside the circle hit the post.

The Indians thereafter adopted an aggressive approach and caught the Australian defence off guard quite a few times.

India’s pace and determination seemed to have surprised the Australians as they panicked while defending and were lucky not to have conceded a goal in the first quarter.

In the ninth minute, skipper Rani Rampal’s deflection from a Vandana Katariya shot hit the back post as Australia survived.

A minute later, Broke Peris’ shot from top of the circle just went wide past a fully stretched Savita.

The Indians created another chance in the first quarter but an alert Australian goalkeeper Rachael Lynch came out of her line to deny Sharmila Devi from a one-on-one situation.

The Australians pressed hard in the second quarter and secured their first penalty corner in the 20th minute which was defended brilliantly by India.

Minutes later, India secured their first penalty corner and Gurjit, who had a disappointing outing so far in the tournament, rose to the occasion and converted the chance with a low flick to stun the Australians.

The Indians were bold and courageous while defending as minutes later, Deep Grace Ekka got a vital stick to keep out Emily Chalker’s strong hit from close range.

Down by a goal, the Australians attacked with numbers after the change of ends and Mariah Williams came close to restoring parity but Savita came in between.

Australia secured three back-back-to-back penalty corners soon but the Indian defence, led by Savita and Deep Grace Ekka, stood like a rock in front of the goal.

Thereafter, the play was mostly inside the Indian circle as Australia pressed hard but the Indians managed to soak up the pressure with some brave defending, not afraid to put their bodies on line.

In the final eight minutes of the game, the pressure was relentless on the Indians as Australia secured four more penalty corners but failed to breach the willpower of the Indian defence.

TOKYO: You can hear a pin drop inside the badminton arena at the Musashino Forest Plaza. Because there are no crowds, you can also hear two players breathing. Extremely fast. Both of them are down. The rally they have played is 62 seconds long. The lactic acid in their muscles is making both of them grimace. The umpire shows some sympathy and allows both of them an unscheduled water and towel break.

Akane Yamaguchi, who wins the point with a smash to PV Sindhu’s backhand, senses an opportunity. It’s the first time she has sensed any opportunity Friday. She has won six of the last seven points, it’s the kind of run players usually use as a platform to win games, and matches.

The Japanese, nicknamed the Energiser Bunny because of her endurance capacities, forages on moments like this. Sindhu, who is feeling the pace for the first time in the match, loses her iron-like grip on the match. Five minutes before that 54-shot rally, Sindhu is seven points away from a second successive semifinal at the Olympics. A few minutes after that rally, Yamaguchi is one point away from forcing the third game. 

The next five minutes is the perfect example of why Sindhu has become this big-game monster, an all-conquering mamba mentality that has helped her make the big stages her playground.

From 18-20, she saves both game points with two smashes after moving Yamaguchi around the court like she’s a master puppeteer. Now, strictly speaking, the Japanese doesn’t mind moving around, she is born to play that way. But she doesn’t like being on the receiving end of Sindhu’s punishing smashes. 18-20 becomes 21-20 just like that, thanks to her prowess in moving the bird to the front and back court before moving in for the kill. The 1-2 at 19-20 is a particular highlight. The ma­tch point is academic because this is a different Sindhu.

There was a time when she was considered a bit fragile on the big occasions. Not anymore. She is an absolute beast and the way she goes about monstering her opponents in big matches is almost mean. On commentary, Gill Clark says this is the form that took her to Worlds gold in Basel in 2019. Almost two years removed from Basel, the 26-year-old, if anything, looks even more assured. She has improved her net play — on Friday, she engaged and won a lot of points with her net play — and is moving a lot better. If she came into the limelight with an ‘imma smash everything’ recklessness, she is now more calculative, somehow even more dangerous.    

She will have to be that on Saturday. Standing on the other side of the green canvas is Tai Tzu-Ying, her greatest nemesis. The Chinese Taipei, one of the greatest women’s players of all time, leads the head-to-head count 5-13 (to be fair almost everybody in the women’s game has a negative head-to-head record against her). She is a magician with her flicks, variations and drops. Playing her is akin to playing the sport while trying to dance on ice without proper footwear. Even as you preparing to move in one direction, she diverts the bird in another direction.

TOKYO: Striker Vandana Katariya scored a historic hat-trick to keep alive the Indian women’s hockey team’s quarterfinals hopes in the Olympics with a fighting 4-3 victory over lower-ranked South Africa in its must-win final group match here on Saturday.

Vandana (4th, 17th, 49th minutes) achieved a rare feat by becoming the first Indian woman hockey player to score a hat-trick in the history of the Olympics.

Young Neha Goyal (32nd) was the other goal getter as the Rani Rampal-led side registered its second consecutive win at the Games.

South Africa’s goals came from the sticks of Tarryn Glasby (15th), skipper Erin Hunter (30th) and Marizen Marais (39th).

With two wins from their final two pool matches, India have finished the group stages with six points from five games.

By virtue of this win, India have jumped to the fourth position in Pool A, but Ireland still have a chance to leapfrog the Indians.

India’s fate now depends on the outcome of the last Pool A match between Great Britain and Ireland.

The Indians will have to wait till the evening to know their fate.

A Ireland loss or a draw will be enough for India to seal their place in the quarterfinals.

The top four teams from each pool will qualify for the knockout round.

Needing a win to stay alive in the competition, the Indians meant business and pressed hard on the South African defence from the start.

In doing so, India secured two penalty corners in the first two minutes of the match but dragflicker Gurjit Kaur’s poor execution continued in the tournament.

Still it didn’t take India long to open their account and in the fourth minute, Vandana gave her side the lead, tapping in from close range after being set up by Navneet Kaur’s great run from the right flank.

India kept up the pressure and penetrated the South African circle many times without much success.

But seconds from the end of first quarter, a lapse in concentration from the defence cost India dearly as South Africa drew level through Tarryn Glasby, who deflected in a long shot from Taryn Mallett.

India had enough time to regain their lead through a penalty corner but wasted the opportunity.

Two minutes into the second quarter, Vandana restored India’s lead when he deflected in Deep Grace Ekka’s flick from their fourth penalty corner.

The Indians had three more chances to extend their lead in the second quarter but they couldn’t do so.

The Rani Rampal-led side got two more penalty corners which they wasted, and then, Neha Goyal’s effort from open play was saved by the South Africa goalkeeper.

Just like in the first quarter, India gave away their lead seconds away from half time when Hunter found the net from her team’s first penalty corner.

Two minutes after the change of ends, Neha restored the lead again, deflecting in a Rani hit from a penalty corner as the Indians executed a fine variation.

The fragile Indian defence wilted under pressure once again, when South Africa drew level for the third time in the match, through a Marais strike.

South Africa enjoyed a good run of play in the initial minutes of final quarter and, in the process, secured three penalty corners quickly, but this time the Indian defence did enough to thwart the dangers.

In the 49th minute, a brilliant Vandana saved the day for India when she deflected in Gurjit Kaur’s flick from another penalty corner.

Thereafter, the Indians fell back and looked contend to keep the possession as South Africa pressed hard.

Two minutes from the final hooter, the Indians successfully referred a penalty corner decision given against them.

Tokyo: The Indian women’s hockey team scored a late goal to eke out a narrow 1-0 victory over Ireland in a must-win penultimate pool match to stay alive in the Olympics here on Friday.

Needing a win to keep their hopes alive after three consecutive losses, India waited anxiously for 57 minutes before Navneet Kaur scored the winner to keep her side in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth.

India will now need to win their final Pool A match against South Africa on Saturday and hope for Ireland to face defeat at the hands of Great Britain to seal their quarterfinal berth.

The top four teams from each pool qualify for the knockout stage.

Tokyo: Debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) assured India of their first boxing medal at the ongoing Olympic Games when she upstaged former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei to enter the semifinals here on Friday.

The 23-year-old Assam boxer prevailed 4-1 to make the last-four where she will square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who hammered Anna Lysenko in her quarterfinal bout.

Borgohain, a two-time world championship bronze-medallist, displayed tremendous calm in the face of a plucky opponent, who had beaten her in the past.

She was aggressive to start with, followed it up with a tremendous counter-attacking game and kept her defence tight in the final three minutes to emerge triumphant.

The youngster, who was laid low by COVID-19 last year and missed a training trip to Europe because of it, let out a huge scream after the referee raised her hand, pent up emotions finally getting the better of her.

India’s previous boxing medals have come through Vijender Singh (2008) and M C Mary Kom (2012). Both of them had won bronze medals and Borgohain would look to better that.

Earlier, Simranjit Kaur (60kg) lost to Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee in the pre-quarterfinals to make an early exit from the Games here.

The 26-year-old Indian, seeded fourth, went down 0-5 despite a gritty performance.

She was impressive in the opening round and seemed to have caught Seesondee on the back-foot with her measured approach, sticking to a counter-attacking strategy.

However, the judges ruled unanimously in favour of the Thai, causing Simranjit to be a tad reckless in the second round.

The Indian paid for the hyper-aggressive approach in the first few seconds itself when Seesondee managed to connect some eye-catching left hooks.

The defensive errors in the second put paid to Simranjit’s chances and even though she gave it her all in the third round, it needed nothing short of a demolition job to get over the line.

However, that was not to be as she bowed out following a unanimous verdict.

The 29-year-old Thai is a two-time world championships medallist and also won a silver in the 2018 Asian Games.

Tokyo: World number one archer Deepika Kumari held her nerves to pip former world champion Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee in a thrilling one-arrow shoot-off to advance to the women’s individual quarterfinals of the Olympic Games here on Friday.

Locked 5-5 after the regulation five-setter, the 27-year-old Indian delivered a perfect 10, hitting the bull’s eye, to topple the Russian, a team silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Starting off the one-arrow shoot-off, the Russian crumbled under pressure as she misfired a 7 while a composed Deepika sealed the issue 6-5 (10-7) without any fuss.

For the three-time Olympian Deepika, this was her first win from three matches against the 2017 world champion as she became the first Indian to make the last-eight in an individual event of the Olympics

In the quarterfinals, Deepika will face 20-year-old Korean top seed An San who bounced back from a set behind to oust local favourite Ren Hayakawa 6-4.

The Korean, who had broken a 25-year-old Olympic record en route to topping the ranking round, displayed incredible shooting of three 10s in her last three arrows to set up a clash against the Indian.

Deepika had faced the Korean once earlier, in the final of the ‘Tokyo 2020 Test Event’ at the same venue of Yumenoshima Park in 2019, and the Indian had lost to her younger opponent in straight sets.

“Now it’s going to be tougher and tougher ahead,” said Deepika, who is chasing the country’s first ever Olympic medal in archery.

“I’ve to fight and shoot better. I hope to do better in the next round. Right now, I need extra focus.

“I can’t win if I’m nervous. I’m trying my best to regain my touch as quickly as possible,” Deepika said of her nervy outing against the Russian.

She had failed to close out after taking 4-2 and 5-3 lead in the third and fifth sets respectively.

“I’m really nervous. Yes, I started off well but it was all about Olympic pressure. It really became difficult (afterwards) to find the yellow-ring (that gives scores of either 9 or 10).”

Deepika had a flying start and raced to a 2-0 lead, drilling a perfect 10 in her second arrow as the experienced Russian faltered with a 7 in the last arrow to concede the set by three points (28-25).

Up 19-17 after two arrows in the second set, the Indian needed a 9 to take a 4-0 lead but only to misfire a 7 as the Russian gained control by one point (26-27) with a 10 for a 2-2 overall score.

It was some tight shooting from both archers from there on as Deepika edged out narrowly (28-27) courtesy a 10 in her first arrow.

A 10 eluded Deepika in the fourth set as both players hit an identical 9-8-9 to take the match to the fifth set with the Indian in the driver’s set with a 5-3 lead.

But pressure got the better of Deepika once again as she could not capitalise her lead and misfired a 7 in her first arrow, conceding the set to her world number 8 opponent (25-28) to force a shoot-off after being 5-5.

Call it a stroke of luck or something else for Deepika, Perova misfired a 7 to start off the one-arrow shoot-off and the Indian held her nerves to seal the issue by hitting the bull’s eye.

“I just tried to live in the present. I was very much relieved after she hit a 7. It definitely boosted my confidence,” Deepika said of the shoot-off.

The sequence of the shoot-off follows the sequence of the start of the match, something that was chosen by the higher seed player.

Perova was a seed higher than Deepika who had finished ninth in the ranking round.

Deepika’s husband Atanu Das is the only other Indian in contention for a medal as he made the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday with a stunning shoot-off win over two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek.

“Obviously it boosted my morale. The pressure gets divided,” Deepika said of her husband as the duo are the first Indian couple to take part in the same discipline in the Games.

In his last-16 match slated on Saturday, Das will face home favourite Takaharu Furukawa, an individual silver medallist at the 2012 Olympics and a team bronze winner here.

Indian men’s team and mixed team were earlier knocked out by the Koreans in their respective quarterfinals.

Colombo: Sri Lanka spinners led by leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga rattled a depleted Indian batting to engineer a 2-1 series victory with a seven-wicket win in the third T20 International here on Thursday.

Batting first, India playing with at least two batsmen short were restricted to their third lowest total of 81 for 8 with Hasaranga getting 4 for 9 in 4 overs.

In reply, Sri Lanka reached the target in 14.3 overs with Dhananjaya De Silva (23 ) scoring bulk of the runs. Rahul CHahar finished with 3/15 in 4 overs.

Brief Scores: India 81/8 in 20 overs (Wanindu Hasaranga 4/9). Sri Lanka 82 for 3 in 14.3 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 23 batting, Rahul Chahar 3/15).

New Delhi Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom on Thursday slammed the International Olympic Committee’s Boxing Task Force for “poor judging” in her flyweight (51kg) pre-quarterfinal at the Tokyo Games which she lost despite winning two of the three rounds.

The Task Force is conducting the boxing competition in Tokyo after the International Boxing Association (AIBA) was suspended by the IOC for alleged misgovernance and financial wrongdoing.

“I don’t know and understand this decision, what’s wrong with the Task Force? What’s wrong with the IOC?” she asked in a telephonic interview to PTI after the 2-3 loss to Colombian Ingrit Valencia in the pre-quarters in Tokyo.

“I was also a member of the Task Force. I was even giving them suggestions and supporting them in ensuring a clean competition. But what have they done with me?” she said.

The 38-year-old, multiple-time Asian champion who was eyeing her second Olympic medal after the bronze at the 2012 London Games, said this evening’s loss did not sink in even after she had gone for her dope test.

“I was happy inside the ring, when I came out, I was happy because in my mind I knew I had won. When they took me for doping, I was still happy. Only when I saw the social media and my coach (Chhote Lal Yadav repeated it to me), it sunk in that I have lost,” she said.

“I had beaten this girl twice in the past. I couldn’t believe that her hand was raised by the referee. I swear, it hadn’t struck me that I lost, I was so sure,” she added.

The Indian trailed 4-1 in the opening round with four of the five judges scoring it 10-9 in favour of Valencia. In the next two rounds, Mary Kom got three of the five judges to rule in her favour but the overall score-line was still in favour of Valencia.

The Manipuri needed a 4-1 verdict in the final round to swing the bout for her.

“The worst part is that there is no review or protest. Honestly I am sure the world must have seen, this is too much what they have done,” she said.

“I should have got the second round unanimously, how was it 3-2? What happened was totally unpredictable,” she reasoned.

The IOC’s Boxing Task Force had promised a more transparent judging system after amateur boxing’s credibility took a hit during the 2016 Rio Olympics judging fiasco which led to suspension of 36 officials.

Mary Kom is part of the BTF’s 10-member athletes ambassadors group.

She represents the Asian bloc in the panel, which also comprises the likes of Ukrainian legend Vasyl Lamachenko (Europe), a two-time Olympic and world gold-medallist who now plies his trade in the professional circuit, and five-time world champion and 2016 Olympic gold-winner Julio Cesar La Cruz (Americas) among others.

“…in a minute or in a second everything gone for an athlete. This is unfortunate what has happened. I am disappointed by the judging,” she said.

But the veteran is in no mood to quit despite her Olympic journey coming to an end with the Tokyo edition. At present, boxers above 40 are not eligible to compete at the Games.

“I will take a break after coming back, spend time with family. But I am not quitting. If there is any competition, I will continue and try my luck,” she said.

The AIBA is trying to regain IOC recognition by ringing in several changes in the administrative set-up under new President Umar Kremlev, which includes the introduction of the bout review system to ensure that boxers’ grievances are addressed.

“You can’t do that here. I would have definitely protested otherwise,” Mary Kom said.