The Indian men's hockey team has secured a spot in the Paris Olympics quarterfinals after their 2-0 win over Ireland and Argentina's victory over New Zealand by the same scoreline in Pool B fixtures on Tuesday, July 30.
Harmanpreet Singh's heroics helped India pick up an expected win over Ireland as the captain scored a brace in the first and the second quarter.
India's win ended Ireland's hopes of making it to the quarterfinals. However, the Irish players made life extremely difficult for India during the game.
India's first goal came in the 13th minute (first quarter) through a penalty stroke. It was Gurjant Singh who created the opportunity for India as he passed the ball towards Mandeep Singh in front of the Irish goal post before Shane O'Donoghue made a dangerous tackle and the umpires awarded a penalty stroke to the Men in Blue.
Harmanpreet Singh stepped up to take the penalty stroke and converted without breaking a sweat to give India an early lead.
Harmanpreet scored the second and what turned out to be the eventual goal of the match in the 19th minute with the help of a penalty corner.
The Irish defenders foiled India's two consecutive penalty corner attempts before Harmanpreet produced a bullet drag-flick to penetrate the Irish defence. Ireland made several attempts to make a comeback but India's veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and an alert defence kept them at bay.
Notably, India will play the defending champions Belgium in their fourth group-stage game on Thursday, August 1.
Men's Pool B Standings
| S. No. |
Team |
Played |
Won |
Lost |
Draw |
Points |
| 1. |
Belgium |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
| 2. |
India |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
| 3. |
Australia |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
| 4. |
Argentina |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| 5. |
New Zealand |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
| 6. |
Ireland |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
