Tokyo games: India lock with Britain on Sunday, look for semis spot

A semifinal berth has eluded Indian men's Hockey team since the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games

Tokyo: Achieving their first target by cementing a place in the quarterfinals, India will be gunning for a win against Great Britain on Sunday to make it to the final four at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

A semifinal berth has eluded Indian men’s Hockey team since the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games where the team led by V Baskaran won the eighth gold medal for India.

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Taking on Great Britain who have two wins, two draws and a loss from their Pool B encounters, the Indian coach Graham Reid expressed confidence in his team’s performance on Sunday.

“To be honest, facing any of the four European teams who have come directly from the Euro Championships was always going to be a difficult quarterfinal game, but I think it really matters on which one you get. But probably Great Britain are the ones we are comfortable with and very confident with. I think if we play the way we know that we can, then definitely victory is possible.”

Barring the disappointment against Australia (1-7) in their second game in the Pool A matches, India did well to finish second in their pool with substantial wins against New Zealand (3-2), Spain (3-0), Argentina (3-1) and Japan (5-3). Now, Reid believes, India will need to carry forward the momentum from these wins into the Quarter Finals.

“When you look at our performances in the last four-five games, apart from the Australian one which was really disappointing result, the rest have been about building performance levels.”

Also read: Tokyo Olympics: Indian men’s hockey team ends league phase on high note

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