India defeated Great Britain by 4-2 in the quarterfinals and reached the semis in the men’s hockey event at the Paris Olympics.
Despite, Amit Rohidas red carded for a stick in GB’s player, Harmanpreet’s team won even after playing with one man less for the last 42 minutes.
Battle-hardened PR Sreejesh emerged hero with a superb performance under the bar as the Indian men's hockey team beat Great Britain 4-2 in a shoot-out to enter the semifinals and remain on course to win its second consecutive Olympic medal, here on Sunday.
The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist valiantly defended for close to 40 minutes to hold an attacking Great Britain 1-1 in regulation to force a shootout.
India started strong and managed to stay strong throughout the match. Down by a man, it was India who took the lead through Harmanpreet Singh in the 22nd minute from a penalty corner before Great Britain drew level through Lee Morton from a field effort in the 27th minute.
The Indian team was at the lead at 1-0 until Great Britain brought the score to an equalizer just slightly before halftime to 1-1.
Once Rohidas, a key defender and India's first rusher was given the controversial marching order, Great Britain attacked in numbers, constantly trying to take advantage of the one-man lead.
The scoreboard was consistent for 60 minutes until the captain scored his seventh goal in the Paris Olympics from the penalty corner.
Great Britain dominated the possession with their pacy start. The play was largely restricted to India's half.
They build up their attacks with short, coordinated passes from both the flanks.
Britain earned their first penalty corner in the fifth minute for a dangerous play from the Indians when Zach Wallace sent a pass to Furlong just inside the circle. The umpire initially didn't award the short corner before the British went for a referral.
The subsequent attempt from Furlong found Rohidas' foot, resulting in another penalty corner which the Indians defended stoutly.
India entered Great Britain's half when vice-captain Hardik Singh sent a pass to Mandeep Singh from the right flank. Mandeep tried to earn a short corner but the ball was cleared.
Four minutes into the second quarter, Rohidas was shown a red card for involuntarily hitting a British player with his stick, which looked controversial.
Down to 10 men for the rest of the match, from there on it was all about defending from the Indians as Great Britain pressed hard with relentless attacks to utilise the advantage.
Vivek Sagar Prasad then dribbled past a few defenders to enter the Britain circle and secured India's fourth penalty corner from a goalmouth melee.
Harmanpreet rose to the occasion and made no mistake as he fired the ball into the goal with a fierce drag-flick.
India's defence played slightly better at the start of the second half but Great Britain soon earned back-to-back penalty corners but they failed to get the ball past Sreejesh.
There was no respite for India with the rival team getting another penalty corner when the ball touched a defender's foot but conversion eluded them again.
No goal was scored by either of the teams in the last quarter as Sreejesh blocked several attempts from Great Britain.
Then, Sreejesh stole the limelight in the shoot-out as well, blocking Connor Williamson and Phillip Ropper's efforts after the score was 2-2.
James Aubrey and Zach Wallace scored for Great Britain in the shoot-out, while Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, and Rajkumar Pal sounded the board for India to seal the last-four berth.
India will play the winner of the quarterfinal match between Germany and Spain in the semifinals.
Star skippers, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Upadhya, and Raj Kumar Pal proved strong for India today however, Conor Williamson and Phil Roper were found clueless and ceded the match to Indians.
"We were not bothered by losing one man, we prepare for such situations in training. I played the role of defender after losing Amit. It was a great win," former captain Manpreet Singh said after the match.
"Sreejesh always does that, saving us all the time," he added.
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