Tokyo Olympics: Anurag Thakur lauds Indian hockey team for reaching semis after 41 years

Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday took to social media to heap praises on the Indian men's hockey team for their emphatic victory over Great Britain in the quarterfinal at the Tokyo Olympics. Anurag Thakur lauded Team India's "brilliant" win over Great Britain and congratulated the side for reaching their first Olympic semifinals after 41 years. "India dribbles & dashes its way into the Semi-Finals!" Thakur wrote on Twitter. 

Indian men's hockey team led by Manpreet Singh stormed into the semifinals with a 3-1 win over the three-time Olympic gold medalists. The last time the Indian men's hockey side played an Olympic semifinal was in Moscow in 1980, where they went on to win their 8th Olympic gold. Team India will lock horns against Belgium in their next match at the Tokyo Olympics. 

Sindhu wins bronze at Tokyo 2020

Earlier in the day, Indian shuttler PV Sindhu won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics after defeating China's HE Bing Chao. Sindhu won her second Olympic medal after defeating Chao 21-13 in the first set and 21-15 in the second. Sindhu is now the first Indian female athlete to win two consecutive Olympic medals, trailing only Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar. Anurag Thakur congratulated the bronze medallist and called her an ‘inspiration’. 

Meanwhile, Indian women's boxer Lovlina Borgohain has also secured a medal for India at the ongoing Olympics as she beat former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei in the 69kg category to enter the semi-final. Borgohain will lock horns against Turkey's Busenaz Surmeneli in the semi-final 1 match at 11:00 am on August 4. 

Image: PTI/ANI