Chak De India: History made as both men, women hockey teams reach Olympic semis

The Women's team added to the joy of the Hockey fans after they beat a World-class Australian side by 1-0. The Men's Hockey Team defeated a power-packed Great Britain by 3-1 on Sunday.

The women team made it to the semi-final after winning back-to-back games against Ireland and South Africa. They also had some luck running on their side as Great Britain beat Ireland in the last game of the group stage, which meant India qualified for the quarter-finals.

The quarter-final was no cake-walk for the women as they had to face three-time Olympic Gold medalists, Australia. However, this didn't affect India as Gurjit Kaur scored India's first goal in the 22nd minute of the game.

This was only the second goal conceded by Australia in the tournament. In reply to this, Australia got a total of 7 penalty corners but failed to score, courtesy India's rock-solid defense lead by goal-keeper, Savita Punia.

This brave effort ensured the Indian women's Hockey team reached the semifinals for the first time in their Olympic history, improving their previous best effort at the 1980 Moscow Olympics where only 6 teams participated with India finishing at 4.

On the other side, the men's Hockey team made it to their first Olympic semi-final after 41 years. The Indian men pulled off an amazing victory against Great Britain by the margin of 3-1 with Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh and Hardik Singh scoring goals for India.

PR Sreejesh, the Indian Goal-keeper, stood like a wall for India, not conceding more than one goal for India. Although there were umpiring errors against India due to which Manpreet Singh, the Indian captain got a yellow card and had to sit out for 5 minutes towards the end of the match, India ensured they had a comfortable victory.

The Indian men will now face Belgium in the semi-finals from 7:00 am on Tuesday.