Dahiya wins Silver; 41-yr-old wait ends with India's Bronze in men's hockey

Tokyo/ New Delhi: Thirteen years after failing to even qualify for the Games, an Indian hockey team stood at the podium on Thursday, something that had become a mythical tale of a bygone era for an entire generation.

It was India's 12th Olympic hockey medal but the one that came after a gap of 41 years. It was India's fifth medal of the ongoing Games and perhaps the one which evoked the most emotional response.

To put it in context, the last time India won a hockey medal at the Olympics, the USSR still existed.

On Thursday morning, Manpreet Singh and his men outran, outwitted, outpaced and to an extent outplayed an aggressive German team 5-4 to shed the baggage of failures and announce the "rebirth" of Indian hockey as the generation before this one knew it.

It was a dream come true for billions of hockey fans as India came back from 1-3 down to score an impressive 5-4 win that reminded its fans of the glory days when the Indians were a force to reckon with.

Simranjeet Singh (17th, 34th) scored a brace of goals while Hardik Singh (27th min), Harmanpreet Singh (29th min) and Rupinderpal Singh (31st min) scored a goal apiece for India while for Germany Timur Cruz (2nd min), Niklas Wellen (24th min), Benedict Furk (25th min) and Lukas Windfeder (48th min) were on target.

India unleashed a four-goal blitz in four minutes as they came roaring back after being pinned down 1-3 by the Germans who started aggressively and created good pressure by going full press from the start itself.

But the Indians took control of the midfield, capitalised on the gaps created by the hard-pressing Germans, and counter-attacked brilliantly, cutting the German defence to shreds in that four-minute period that left the opponents shocked.

Till that time, it looked like Tobias Hauke's side had taken control of the match as they opened the scoring in the second minute of their first attack and then scored twice within a minute as they took control of the proceedings with a 3-1 lead.

But the Indians were not done yet, they scored two goals of their own in the 27th and 29th minute through Hardik and Harmanpreet Singh, the latter powering a brilliant drag-flick into the German goal, capitalising on swift counter-attacks. The score was 3-3 at half-time and both teams had a lot to play for.

The Indians continued with the momentum in the third quarter and a minute after the restart, earned a penalty stroke when Mandeep Singh was brought down by Oruz in the shooting circle. Rupinderpal Singh's push had too much power for German goalkeeper Alexander Stadler, who guessed the direction but could not get down fast enough to stop it.

And India made things more difficult for Germany when Simranjeet Singh was on target again in the 34th minute after he was set up by Gurjant Singh, who made a good run to the goal-line and sent a minus ball inside the circle.

Germany scored two goals in quick succession, capitalising on defensive errors by the Indians to make it 3-1. They struck twice within two minutes, Wellen made it 2-1 when Hardik lost the ball near the shooting circle and a minute later Furk was on target when Indian defender Surinder Kumar delayed in clearing the ball and was dispossessed by a German forward (3-1 for Germany).

But the lead was short-lived as India responded immediately and launched a blitzkrieg of attacks that sealed the victory eventually.

Interestingly, only 6.8 seconds were left in the game. India was leading 5-4. But then Germany won a penalty corner and was closing in on destroying India's dream of winning an Olympic medal after 41 years and its first Bronze in 49-years.

However, Germany had the PR Sreejesh barrier to overcome. The 35-year-old from Kerala came up with the most telling save of his career, not his first of the game, and with that, he officially replaced Rahul Dravid as 'The Wall'.

Sreejesh was anyway on his way to earn that title after some spectacular saves throughout the tournament, such as the spectacular double-save in less than two seconds against Great Britain in the quarter-finals.

"It's a rebirth, that's it," declared India's ecstatic goalkeeping great after emerging as one of the stars of the men's hockey team's historic feat, confident that it will help produce a new generation of capable players.

He climbed up the goal post to celebrate even as his teammates cried and hugged each other in elation.

Ravi Dahiya added to this celebration with a silver medal in the men's 57 kg division, which was only the second ever by an Indian wrestler.

The most important clash of the day was perhaps between him and Zavur Uguev as India prayed for a historic Gold. Dahiya was ruthless on Tuesday making an exciting comeback to qualify for the final. He put on a massive fight in the final, just like in the semi-finals, but eventually the reigning world champion of the Russian Olympic Committee did enough to win 7-4.

There was also plenty of good news coming in from the golf course where Aditi Ashok put herself in contention for a podium finish with a flawless five-under 66 in the second round hat left her tied second at the end of the day's play.

But there were plenty of disappointments too, the biggest one being star wrestler Vinesh Phogat.

After a good win in the opening round, she lost to Belarus' Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the quarter-finals. Her medal hopes were dashed when Kaladzinskaya failed to make the finals.

The 19-year-old Deepak Punia (86 kg) came close to a bronze medal but conceded the winning lead (4-2) to San Marino's Myles Nazem Amine with just 10 seconds left in the bout.

It was also the end of the road for Anshu Malik, who lost the repechage round. In the men's 20km racewalk final, Sandeep Kumar finished highest for India at 23rd, while Rahul Rohilla and KT Irfan ended at 47th and 51st. With Agency Inputs