Watch how India made it to their first hockey Champions Trophy final
India play Australia in the final on Friday night. Their best finish till now was a bronze in 1982.
This is historic. In the early hours of Saturday, at 12.45 am IST in fact, the Indian men's hockey team will play in the final of the Champions Trophy against Australia in London. It's an occasion that has never arrived before – India's best finish in the tournament till now has been a third-place finish, way back in 1982.
How did the Indian hockey team, for long so derided, manage to pull off something so incredible? In case, you've been busy with the Euro 2016 and the Copa America Centenario, we've got you covered.
India arrived in London as the second-lowest ranked team among all the six countries, at seventh. Only South Korea ranked lower, at ninth. India began their campaign against defending champions and third-ranked Germany, but soon showed that the rankings hardly reflect reality: they zoomed into a 3-1 lead with captain and goal-keeper PR Sreejesh making some amazing saves. Germany fought back and got a late goal to draw the game 3-3, but it was a great start by India.
They next faced hosts Great Britain and managed to go one better. Despite Britain enjoying large amounts of possession, Mandeep Singh, the scorer from the first match, broke through and put India in front. Harmandeep Singh converted a penalty stroke and India were 2-0 up. Britain pulled one back but despite pressing hard, India managed to hold out and take the three points on offer, which would ultimately turn out to be vital for them.
Belgium were up next and this time, India had a poor game on a wet surface. Like their last two games, they gave away too many penalty corners and were poor on the attack. Belgium went ahead and although India's Devindar Walmiki equalised with a fierce shot, it did not prove to be enough, as Jerome Truyens put in the second to secure the win.
It was in the next match, against South Korea, that India were both brilliant and abject. In a tight game, neither team seemed to be able to score, but SV Sunil finally managed to break the deadlock in the 39th minute with a brilliant goal. It seemed India would win 1-0, but with three minutes remaining on the clock, a mistake from the defence led to a Korea equaliser.
However, immediately after getting the goal, Korea made a defensive error of their own, giving Nikkin Thimmaiah the opportunity to score and steal the win. It would turn out to be a very very important goal for India in the tournament.
Finally, it came down to Australia in their last group game. India needed to defeat Australia to guarantee a final spot (and a medal), but went down 4-2 to to the world champions.
But luck was on India's side. Great Britain and Belgium met in their last group match, with both teams needing a win to displace India from the second spot. Belgium needed to win by a margin of at least three goals and looked like they were heading for that result, leading 3-1 at the start of the fourth quarter, but a furious fightback by Britain made the final score 3-3. A draw suited India as they booked a spot in the finals of the Champions Trophy for the first time in their history.
