Tokyo Olympics: Kiren Rijiju has 'no words' as India seal semis berth in men's hockey

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has congratulated the Indian men's hockey team as they successfully sealed a semi-final berth in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics 2020 after an emphatic 3-1 win over Great Britain in the quarterfinal on Sunday.

By the virtue of this win, the Indian men's hockey team will be making their first-ever semi-final appearance in the quadrennial event after the 1980 edition of the Olympic Games that were held in the Russian capital of Moscow. 

Tokyo Olympics: Kiren Rijiju congratulates Manpreet Singh & Co.

Taking to the micro-blogging site, Kiren Rijiju said that he is short of words as India will be playing a hockey semi-final at the Olympics after a long wait of more than four decades. Meanwhile, the former Sports Minister had also shared a few images of the Indian team celebrating during their last-eight clash against Great Britain.

Tokyo Olympics: India leaves Great Britain completely clueless in the knockout fixture

Coming back to the contest, the Indian team had scored a couple of goals in the first quarter itself courtesy of Dilpreet Singh and Gurjant Singh respectively and put Great Britain under pressure straight away. Even though Britain had most of the possessions, they just could not succeed in converting them due to some great athleticism shown by India's veteran goalie PR Sreejesh. 

The second quarter ended in a stalemate and Sam Ward scored one from the penalty corner in the final seconds of the third quarter as the scoreline read 2-1.

The fourth and final quarter saw both teams keeping each other at bay but it was India who came out on top when Hardik Singh scored a brilliant one by hitting it to the bottom right corner after the first shot deflected by the goalkeeper. India then did not concede any more goals and celebrated moments later when the final whistle blew.

Manpreet Singh & Co. will now be up against Belgium in the second semi-final on Tuesday. India had crashed out in the quarterfinals of the last edition and they would now be hoping for a podium finish this time around. 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 record eighth  Olympic gold.