NEW DELHI: Hailing the Indian women’s hockey team’s performance at the Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said it narrowly missed a medal but it reflects the spirit of new India, “where we give our best and scale new frontiers”.

“We narrowly missed a medal in Women’s Hockey but this team reflects the spirit of New India — where we give our best and scale new frontiers,” Modi tweeted after the match.

“More importantly, their success at #Tokyo2020 will motivate young daughters of India to take up Hockey and excel in it. Proud of this team,” he said.

Modi said people will always remember the great performance of our women’s hockey team at the Tokyo Olympics.

“They gave their best throughout.

Each and every member of the team is blessed with remarkable courage, skill and resilience.

India is proud of this outstanding team,” the prime minister said.

The team had already created history and surpassed all expectations by entering the semifinals of the Games for the first time.

But the maiden Olympic medal remained out of bounds as world no. 4 Great Britain, who were gold-winners in the 2016 Rio Games, came out on top in the pulsating encounter.

The heartbreak came a day after the Indian men’s team ended a 41-year-old medal drought by clinching a bronze with a 5-4 win over Germany.

NEW DELHI: The “stupendous” performance of India’s hockey teams is one of the things people will remember the Tokyo Olympics for, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday soon after the women’s team went down fighting against Argentina in the semifinal.

Both the men’s as well as the women’s teams remain in contention for the bronze medal.

The men’s team had also lost in the semifinals to Belgium.

After the match, Modi spoke to women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal and coach Sjoerd Marijne, and expressed pride at their performance.

“He told them that the women’s team is a skilled group of athletes who have worked very hard and that they must look ahead. He also said that wins and losses are a part of life and that they must not be disheartened,” official sources said.

In a tweet, Modi said: “One of the things we will remember Tokyo 2020 for is the stupendous performance by our hockey teams. Today and through the Games, our women’s hockey team played with grit and showcased great skill. Proud of the team. Best of luck for the game ahead and for future endeavours.”

A brave Indian women’s hockey team put up a gritty performance, but it was not enough to secure a maiden Olympic final berth as it lost 1-2 to world number two Argentina in a hard-fought semifinal in the Tokyo Olympics.

TOKYO: A demoralising semifinal defeat behind it, the Indian men’s hockey team would need an error-free performance from its defence to secure an Olympic medal after 41 years when it takes on Rio Games bronze-winner Germany in the third-fourth place play-off match here on Thursday.

The Belgians played to their strengths as their focus was merely on earning penalty corners, especially with the likes of tournament’s highest goal-scorer Alexander Hendrickx, who scored a hat-trick, and Loick Lupaert in their ranks.

Their ploy worked to perfection as put under pressure, the Indians lost their defensive shape and conceded as many as 14 penalty corners in the match, eight in the final quarter, to lose a bright chance to secure an Olympic medal after 41 years.

India’s last of the eight Olympic golds came way back in 1980 Moscow Games.

But come Thursday, the Indian defence will have to pull up its socks and avoid repeating the same mistakes which it made against Belgium if they desire to stand on the podium here.

Despite having four world-class drag-flickers in its armoury in Rupinder Pal Sngh, vice captain Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar and Amit Rohidas, the Indians have a poor penalty corner conversion record, utilising just one out of the five they secured against world no.1 Belgium on Tuesday.

The onus now is on the Indian defence and the likes of Harmanpreet, Rupinder, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas and star goalkeeper PR Sreejesh will have to be on their toes to come out triumphant against the might of Germans.

The Indians also need to avoid unnecessary tackles in front of their circle with skipper Manpreet Singh being guilty of getting a card at the start of the fourth quarter, which resulted in three back-to-back penalty corners for Belgium, the last of which was converted by Hendrickx to shift the momentum of the match in their favour.

Going by rankings, there is hardly anything to differentiate between the two sides as India are currently on third place and Germany on fourth.

But Germany would be a tough nut to crack for the Indians.

Having lost 1-3 against Australia in the semifinals here, the Germans would be determined to prove a point.

The clash between India and Germany would be a repeat of the bronze medal clash of the 2017 Hockey World League Finals.

Back then, the Indians triumphed 2-1 against a vastly depleted German team.

Having failed to secure the gold medal here after two successive yellow metals in 2008 and 2012 Games, the Germans had to settle for a bronze in Rio 2016 and they would be determined to at least return with a podium finish from here.

Germany are the most successful hockey nation in the Olympics after India with four gold medals.

Striker Lukas Wendfeder is in great form, having scored scored six goals in the tournament so far.

The Indian defence is expected to have a busy outing on Thursday with the likes of Wendfeder, Florian Fuchs and Christopher Ruhr in the German side.

In the Olympics, both the sides have faced each other 11 times recording four wins each and three matches ending in draws.

Recently, India toured Germany in March this year during which they defeated the hosts 6-1 and drew a match 1-1.

India captain Manpreet Singh has already said that he is in no mood to dwell on the semifinal result.

“Now we need to focus on our next bronze-medal match and we need to work and we need to get the medal,” Manpreet had said after the semifinal loss.

“At least we should win a bronze medal for the nation,” he added.

In the men’s hockey final, Australia will face Belgium later on Thursday.