Paris Olympics 2024: ‘Abhishek-Harmanpreet’ excellence earns historic and emotional Olympic win for India against Australia after 52 years

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬: The eyes of Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh in a post-match conversation were saying it all about how important and big it was. From Munich in 1972 to Paris in 2024, it took 52 years and the display of attacking and complete hockey played by the Harmanpreet-led Indian team to beat Australia in the Olympics. The men in blue defeated the Athens 2004 gold medalist, Kookaburras by 3-2 to earn an emotional and historic win after a long wait of more than 5 decades.

The early attack from the Indian team in the first quarter boosted India’s confidence to a level that happened to be unmatchable for Australia till the last whistle. Besides that, India also displayed complete hockey in other sections, including the game at midfield and an amazing defence led by the goalkeeping veteran PR Sreejesh. 

The early strikes boost India’s confidence

So, two of the top teams, India and Australia in Pool B of men’s hockey in the Paris Olympics 2024, are taking on each other in the all-important and must-win game for the second spot on the table. The game is underway at the Yves-du-Manoir-Stadium in Paris. Harmanpreet Singh-led India completely dominated the first quarter of the game.

In the first 15 minutes, the men in blue capitalized on their dominance over the Kookaburras in the 12th minute of the game. This moment came up in an amazing field goal from the young forward Abhishek, helping his side to take an early lead of 1-0 in the early moments of the game. The 24-year-old left the Aussie defence completely shocked with a sensational hit, getting stopped within the goal post deceiving Aussie goalkeeper Andrew Charter.

Abhishek’s brilliance was followed by skipper Harmanpreet Singh’s experience and excellence in the immediate next minute [the 13th minute of the first quarter]. Singh converted a penalty corner into another goal for India, taking the lead from 1-0 to 2-0, which ended clean at the time of whistle for the first quarter.

‘Hercules Harmanpreet’ marks his presence again for India 

The second quarter of the game was quite relieving and a ‘phase of comeback’ for the Athens 2004 gold medalist, Australia. The Aussie camp heaved a sigh of relief when the star forward executed the first goal for his team, converting a penalty corner. The scoreline ended 2-1 in India’s favour at the end of the second quarter [half-time].  

The third quarter of the game came up with an early success for the Indian camp. It was the 32nd minute when India earned a penalty corner, which the Aussie defence saved. However, in an unfortunate turnaround of events for the Kookaburras, ‘ball touching the defender’s leg’ awarded a juicy penalty stroke for India.

The stroke was taken by the men in form, none other than skipper ‘Hercules Harmanpreet’. The leading goal-scorer of the Paris Olympics 2024 made no mistake and took the Indian lead to 3-1, dodging Aussie goalie Andrew Charter.

Both teams showed a good and tough fight in the fourth quarter of the game, and Australia capitalized yet again with an ‘effort of comeback’ in the 55th minute of the game, scoring their second goal, scored by Blake Govers in a penalty stroke.

In a relieving line of events for Indian fans, Harmanpreet’s men didn’t allow Australia to do any damage in the Indian circle and ended up winning the game by 3-2. With this win against Australia, India finished second in the Pool B of the men’s hockey competition.