The Indian women's hockey team played their hearts out in the Tokyo Olympics semi-final against Argentina at the Oi Hockey Stadium on Wednesday, but, the Indian eves couldn't get past the Argentinians, going down 2-1 in their first-ever Olympic semi-final.
However, an Olympic medal hope is still alive for the Indian side as they will take on world number four, Great Britain in the bronze medal match on Friday.
The Indian women's hockey chief coach Sjoerd Marijne expressed that the Indian team played with the right spirit in the semi-final against Argentina.
"We were really competitive against Argentina. It was about converting the small opportunities and we converted a penalty corner into a goal. We were very close so the loss is hurting the team very much, but now it's about recovery and looking forward to the next match. We can still win a medal. I am proud of the way the girls performed against Argentina. They played an Olympic semi-final for the first time and it's not easy. We played with the right spirit and I am very happy with that," said Marijne in an official release.
India captain Rani Rampal expressed that the national side will give everything it has to win its first Olympic medal.
"We played really well against Argentina, however, it was disappointing not to book a place in the Olympic final. We have performed really well in this tournament and we still have a chance to win a medal. We are confident about our individual games and we will give everything we have to win our first Olympic medal. We have a chance to make history on Friday," said Rani.
The skipper added that the team will look to stay in the moment and focus on executing their plans.
"It'll be all about staying in the moment for us. We have to follow our processes and if we execute our plans properly, we will be able to get a good result in the Bronze Medal match. We defeated Great Britain in our last encounter against them in February 2020 so we will take a lot of confidence from that match," said the forward.
( With inputs from ANI )
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