Olympic Desk: Dhaka,
Aug-05,
Indian men's hockey team scripted history in the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, defeating Germany 5-4
to bag a bronze medal at the quadrennial sporting extravaganza after nearly 41
years.
The country's last
success at the Olympics came in the 1980 Moscow games in Russia, where the
men's hockey team got the gold. In the 1968 Mexico games and the 1972 Munich
Games too, India bagged the bronze.
Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi called up the winning men's hockey team members in Tokyo and
congratulated them for finally breaking the Olympic medal jinx.
"Many, many
congratulations to you and the entire team, you have made history. The entire
country is filled with joy. Your hard work has paid off. The entire country is
happy," Modi was heard saying in a video posted by Indian Sports Minister
Anurag Thakur on Twitter.
Soon after the match,
the PM tweeted, "Historic! A day that will be etched in the memory of
every Indian. Congratulations to our Men’s Hockey Team for bringing home the
Bronze. With this feat, they have captured the imagination of the entire
nation, especially our youth."
Indian President
Ramnath Kovind also took to Twitter to laud the Indian men's hockey team for
its dominating performance and “exceptional skills, resilience &
determination".
“Congratulations to our
men’s hockey team for winning an Olympic Medal in hockey after 41 years. The
team showed exceptional skills, resilience & determination to win. This
historic victory will start a new era in hockey...," he wrote.
In fact, in the match,
Germany had taken an early lead with Timur Cruz scoring a goal in the first
quarter. India's Simranjeet Singh soon equaled the scores of the two teams.
Germany, however,
bounced back with two more goals in the second quarter to lead 3-1. However,
the third quarter proved lucky for India. And subsequently, Simranjeet scored
his second goal of the match to give India an edge over Germany.
“A billion cheers for
India! Boys, you’ve done it! We can’t keep calm! #TeamIndia! Our Men’s Hockey The team dominated and defined their destiny in the Olympic history books today,
yet again! We are extremely proud of you!" the Sports Minister tweeted.
End/Dct/Sma/
