In Tokyo Olympics Hockey, India to face Great Britain on Aug 1 in mouthwatering knock-out

The Oi Hockey Stadium was yet again dazzled as the home side fell prey to a deadly Indian attack when they met in the Pool A fixture of the Tokyo Games. The scoreline read 5-3 as Gurjant Singh outclassed the Japanese side to end India's group with four victories. India has already fixed a spot in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and now wait to face the Great Britain national team in what is sure to be a sensational match-up on August 1.

India vs Japan ends in visitors' favour

The Indian Hockey team ended their group stage pool with a win as they stole the show from the home team Japan. The eight-time Olympic champions cruised through their Pool A with a third consecutive win, albeit suffering a drubbing at the hands of Australia. Among the point-getters included Gujrant Singh who had a double strike and was mesmerising throughout his time on the pitch as he scored in the 17th and 56th minutes. Harmanpreet Singh also bagged in an early goal in the 13th minute, while Nilakanta Sharma and Shamsher Singh scored one goal each to achieve a comprehensive victory.

Japan gave a good account of themselves as well; however the hosts fell short right from the start of the game. The three goals came from Kenta Tanaka, Kota Watanabe and Kazuma Murata. 

India to face Great Britain 

After a sumptuous victory and progress through Pool A, India are supposed to be up against Great Britain next in a knock-out. India, coached by Australian Graham Reid, opened their Tokyo 2020 campaign on a winning note as they defeated world no. 8 New Zealand with a scoreline of 3-2. But it succumbed to the Australian side 7-1. The one-sided match against the Kookaburras, as the Australian hockey team is often called, exposed the Indian defence. The Indian forwards also couldn’t convert their opportunities into goals. They made a strong comeback in their third fixture against Spain, however, as the Manpreet Singh-led team won with a 3-0 scoreline.

Great Britain has managed two wins of five games in the Olympics so far. They dark horses drew against the Dutch and beat South Africa and Canada before losing to Germany 1-5.

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