Tokyo Olympics women's hockey: Heartbreak for Rani Rampal's heroes, lose bronze medal

India women hockey team miss out on historic Olympic medal, lose bronze medal playoff match against Great Britain

India women hockey team captain Rani Rampal in action against Great Britain in the bronze medal match of Tokyo Olympics. (Photo: PTI)

It was a heartbreak for heroic Indian women hockey team as they lost their bronze medal match 4-3 to Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday (August 6). Rani Rampal's girls were in tears as they failed to win their first-ever Olympic medal by a whisker.  

The Indian women had already created history and surpassed all expectations by entering the semifinals of the Games for the first time. But the maiden Olympic medal remained out of bounds as world no.4 Great Britain, who were gold-winners in the 2016 Rio Games, came out on top in the pulsating encounter.

The heartbreak came a day after the Indian men's team ended a 41-year-old medal drought by clinching bronze with a 5-4 win over Germany. The Indians played their hearts out and overcame a two-goal deficit to lead 3-2 at half time.

So near, yet so far.

We go down fighting against Great Britain in our Bronze Medal match. #GBRvIND #HaiTayyar #IndiaKaGame #Tokyo2020 #TeamIndia #TokyoTogether #StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites #WeAreTeamIndia #Hockey pic.twitter.com/PlaYx8MrY9

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 6, 2021

But a desperate Great Britain gave their everything in the second half and scored two goals to snatch the match from India's hands. India scored three goals in a span of five minutes through Gurjit Kaur (25th, 26th minutes) and Vandana Katariya (29th) to stun Great Britain.

But the Britishers found the net four times through Elena Rayer (16th), Sarah Riobertson (24th), skipper Hollie Pearne-Webb (35th) and Grace Baldson (48th) to emerge winners. India's best performance in the Olympics was a fourth place finish in the 1980 Moscow Games. In that edition, there were no semifinals as only six teams competed in a round-robin format with the top two featuring in the final. 

(With PTI inputs)