The very first day of the hockey matches at the Olympics Tokyo 2020 at the Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo, Japan kicked off to an amazing start! An action-packed day kept adrenaline high throughout the day as we saw the top Olympic contenders go head-to-head in non-stop action on the pitch.
The day kicked off to an early start as we saw Japan go head-to-head with Australia, and India took on New Zealand. Carrying the hopes of an entire nation to end the 41-year medal drought at the Olympic Games, the Indian Men’s Hockey Team got off to a rollicking start in their campaign in the group stage with a strong 3-2 win against New Zealand in a match that went down to the wire. While it was Rupinder Pal Singh who opened the scoreboard for India in the 10th minute, Harmanpreet Singh extended the lead in the 26th and 33rd minute but it was experienced goalkeeper PR Sreejesh who saved the day for India with excellent work in the post to stop New Zealand from converting an equalizer in the dying minutes of the match.
As for Japan and New Zealand, both the teams started the match strongly. Both Australia and Japan were looking in good form. In the 11th minute, Australia’s Tim Brand scored and gave his team a 1-0 lead. Right now, Japan’s team was emerging from this goal that Australia’s Tom Craig scored the second goal and gave a 2-0 lead in this match. Japan was trying its best to make a comeback. Then Kenta Tanaka got a chance in the 22nd minute, then he scored the first goal for his team in this game without wasting this opportunity. The to and fro between the two top teams of hockey continued until the victor emerged; Australia took the match by 5 to 3 goals.
Equally exciting matches happened throughout the day, some of the best hockey at display at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 8 matches were played, 6 men’s and 2 women’s.
The results of all the matches and details of upcoming matches can be found here:
https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/hockey/olympic-schedule-and-results.htm
It was an exhilarating first day that has left audiences around the world begging for more and anticipating day two of the hockey matches at the Olympics with great zeal and fervour.
Stay tuned for more updates!
