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India Beats Great Britain 4-2 in Shootout to Reach Paris Olympics 2024 Hockey Semifinals

In the first men’s hockey semifinal on Sunday, August 4, India defeated Great Britain to secure a spot in the Paris Olympics 2024 semifinals. In order to secure a historic victory and a spot in the round of four for India, goalie PR Sreejesh produced several saves for his team throughout regulation time and then successfully blocked two opponents in the shootout. The match was settled by a penalty shootout, in which India scored four goals and Great Britain could only convert the first two opportunities. Both teams managed to score one goal each during regulation time. On Tuesday, August 6, India will now play the victor of the Argentina-Germany match in the semifinals.

10 played with 10 men

During the second quarter of the match, Amit Rohidas was sent off for raising his stick against a player from Great Britain, bringing India down to 10 men. India, trailing by one man, grabbed the lead through a penalty corner converted by Harmanpreet Singh in the 22nd minute, while Great Britain equalized in the 27th minute through a field goal by Lee Morton. Following the contentious marching order given to India’s first rusher and important defender Rohidas, Great Britain launched a massive offensive, persistently attempting to capitalize on the one-man advantage.

‘Today was our day’

After helping India secure a historic victory, Sreejesh told to reporters, “(It is a) daily job of a goalie.” While some days require more work than others, this is the day. The guys who took the shots didn’t let us down, not even during the shootout. “I felt confident enough after they scored,” the Indian goalie remarked. “I had two options when I walked onto this field today. “This could be my last game, or I have two more matches left, and I believe I have two more matches left now,” he stated.

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Bronze medallist India will concentrate on their performance in the semifinals, according to Sreejesh. Let’s simply play our game, regardless of who advances to the semifinals, shall we? We are now down one man, so that’s it, that’s crucial, and we should concentrate on that,” he stated. Amit Rohidas was given a red card with over 40 minutes remaining in the game, and Sreejesh stated that India would wait for the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) ruling. “I don’t know how it’s going to be. They must take a decision on that. We are just waiting for that, but still, we need to play our best game in the semifinals,” he said.