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New Delhi: The Indian men's hockey team defeated Spain on Thursday and won the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics-2024. India won 2-1 in the match for the third place. India also won the bronze medal in Tokyo Olympics-2020. India has won the bronze medal for the second consecutive time. This is India's fourth bronze medal in the Olympic Games.
he Indian team's aim was to win this match and retain its bronze medal and bid farewell to its star goalkeeper PR Sreejesh with an Olympic medal. Team India attacked right from the beginning. In the sixth minute, Jarmanpreet entered Spain's D and created an opportunity. Jarman could not convert it into action. India had earlier won bronze medals in 1968, 1972 and 2020.
Both teams attacked
In the first quarter, both teams adopted attacking strategies due to which the role of defense became important. Team India had Amit Rohidas in this match. Team India missed him a lot in the semi-finals. This time Amit did a strong job and kept the defense strong in the first quarter. Both teams could not score a goal in the first quarter.
Spain opened account
There was no difference in the attacking approach of both the teams in the second quarter as well. Spain got success here. In the 17th minute, Spain entered the Indian circle and got a penalty stroke. In the 18th minute, Marc Miralles converted it into a goal and put Spain ahead 1-0. Sreejesh could not do anything on Marc's stroke. In the 20th minute, Spain got a penalty corner which could not be converted into a goal. Immediately, Spain got another penalty corner and this time also Spain did not get success.
Spain became more aggressive after scoring the goal. It kept making inroads into Team India's circle. In the 24th minute, Spain almost scored the second goal, but once again Sreejesh saved it. In the last two minutes of this quarter, Spain again tested Sreejesh in which he was successful and disappointed Spain on two occasions. India immediately countered and got a penalty corner. However, the goal could not be scored. In the last minute, India again got a penalty corner and Harmanpreet scored the equaliser.
India takes lead in third quarter
India did not delay much in taking the lead in this match. In the 33rd minute, India got a penalty corner and this time again Harmanpreet put the ball in the net. India again got a penalty corner in the 35th minute, but this time the captain could not score a goal. Abhishek was immediately given a green card.
In the 40th minute, Spain got a penalty corner on which a goal was scored but the referee disqualified it. In the last minutes, India had a chance to double their lead and Spain had a chance to equalize but both the teams failed.
The fourth quarter was exciting
Spain, fighting for equaliser, got a penalty corner in the fourth minute, however, the goal could not be scored. India also tried for a field goal in the next minute. The ball was in front of the goalpost and Surjeet was also there. He tried but hit the ball out. In the last minutes, Spain played brilliantly and did not let India get the ball. Most of the time, Spain had the ball possession. India's defence showed its full strength and did not let a goal be scored. In the last one minute, Spain also got a penalty corner which was saved by Sreejesh. From here, all the attempts of Spain failed and once again India got the bronze medal.
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