Tokyo Olympics: Indian women’s hockey team shows they belong to the grand stage

Long after the heat of battle had ebbed, the tears continued to flow for the Indian women’s hockey team. If they were still crying as they trooped out of the Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo to take the bus for the Games village, they were simply inconsolable on the turf.

In soaring temperatures (43 degrees pitch side), the plucky Indian women’s team had pushed the 2016 Olympics gold medallists Great Britain so hard that even the rival camp were left to admire their determined effort.As the women sobbed and were consoled by both the coaching staff as well as their opponents, the scoreboard flashed the final result—4-3—which told both sides of the story: a valiant fight and an opportunity missed narrowly.

If ever there was victory in defeat, this was it. In a match where both teams ran themselves ragged, battling for every ball, the more skillful team won, but India proved that they more than belonged to this stage. This is a result that is bigger than the match itself, because it holds the promise of transforming the dynamics of Indian women’s hockey. But for now, the pain of coming so close but missing out on the medal hurt to the bones.

Captain Rani Rampal stood transfixed on the turf, crying. Coach Sjoerd Marijne gave Rani a little shake, before running over to goalkeeper Savita Punia, who was sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of the team’s analytical coach Janneke Schopman.

The British women stopped their celebrations midway to offer a shoulder for their crestfallen opponents.

Finally, Marijne, for whom it was the last match with the team, got them together and quietly said, “I can’t take away your tears, but what I can tell you is that India is proud of each one of you.”

The Indian women’s team played this match with the same qualities of intensity and resilience that allowed them to repeatedly claw back from nearly hopeless situations throughout the tournament—be it from the three losses from their first three matches in the group stage, or today, when they were down 0-2 in the second quarter.

Launching one attack after another, India slotted in three goals in four minutes to stun Britain and end the quarter on top.

The first two goals from India came off Gurjit Kaur— who is fast becoming the goalscoring talisman of this team—both powerful drag-flicks that thundered through the British defence. Then the experienced Vandana Kataria, so good at latching on to loose balls in the D, did exactly that for the third goal.

The British equalized five minutes into the third quarter and then scored again in the fourth, the winner coming from Grace Balsdon.

“We were very close to winning a medal. We showed the character of the team,” said captain Rampal, her voice choking up. “We fought till the end but unfortunately, we could not finish it, but I am proud of the team.

“When I came to the team I never thought that we could come to this level because we had never qualified for the Olympics. We finished 12th in Rio and it was a turning point for women’s hockey.”

The start was anything but a sign of things to come. Great Britain controlled the pace of the game and the action was mostly in the Indian half where Savita Punia was pulling off one one save after another. Britain got three penalty corners in quick succession but Punia the ‘wall’ was doing what PR Sreejesh did for the men’s team. With quick reflexes and good anticipation, she stood boldly between Britain and an opening goal. The next 15 minutes were explosive—five goals between the two teams, with pacy attacks down the flanks, desperate defending, quick passing and some fine solo runs, including one by Salima Tete that set up the penalty corner for Gurjit’s first goal.

But for India, it was not enough. Great Britain controlled just as much of the game as needed, scored two goals in the last two quarters and no matter how much India tried, they could not score another one.

“We had the confidence that we can win this match,” said Gurjit. “We put all our effort. We were so close to winning a medal. We will come back stronger.”