In the quest for the historic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Wednesday, Rani Rampal-led Indian women’s team crossed swords with Argentina in the semi-finals of the showpiece event at the Oi Hockey Stadium’s North Pitch. After upstaging the mighty Australian side and entering their first semi-finals of the women’s event at the Summer Games, Sjoerd Marijne-coached side opted to keep up with the winning formula by naming an unchanged side against Argentina in the semi-finals.
Giving India a dream start in the opening quarter, drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur managed to draw first blood after skipper Rampal earned India’s first penalty corner against Argentina in the second minute of the match. Despite going down in the first quarter, the South American heavyweights remained keen on finding their opener against India.
Navneet Kaur and Argentina’s Gorzelany were involved in a horrific clash as India suffered an injury scare in the 15th minute. After ending the first quarter behind India, Argentina captain Noel Barrionuevo coined his side’s first goal in the 18th minute of the second quarter. The Barrionuevo-led side made life difficult for the Indian defense after restoring parity in the second quarter. However, a resilient team India thwarted Argentina’s bid of scoring the third goal of the contest as Rampal and Co. ended the second quarter level-pegging.
In the third quarter, Argentina were rewarded for frustrating the Indian defence as La Albiceleste (The White and Sky Blues) netted their second goal to take a slender lead in the high-voltage clash for the first time. Barrionuevo converted Argentina’s penalty corner for the second time to make sure La Albiceleste stay in lead throughout the third quarter.
Dominating the midfield and ending India’s late bids of an equalizer in the final quarter, Argentina eventually upstaged the Rampal side 2-1 to enter the final of the women’s tournament at the Tokyo Games 2020. Indian women’s team will play Great Britain for the bronze medal at the Summer Games.
