A look at Indian women's hockey team performances in Olympics
The Indian women's team will be aiming to qualify for the multi-sport extravaganza by putting some fine performances.
Indian women's hockey team (ANI)
NEW DELHI: The FIH Olympics Qualifiers for Hockey will be starting from today onwards. The Indian women's team will be aiming to qualify for the multi-sport extravaganza by putting some fine performances. Let us look at their performances in Olympics.
1980 Olympics
This was the first time ever that the Indian women's hockey team made an appearance at the Olympics. Team India finished at number four in the women's competition, with Zimbabwe, erstwhile Czechoslovakia and USSR getting gold, silver and bronze medals respectively. India won two games against Poland and Australia, drew one and lost two.
After 1980, no Olympic qualification till 2016
Following a solid performance in the 1980 Olympics at Moscow, India did not qualify for the next eight Olympics till 2012 in London. Rani Rampal though emerged as a key player in the early 2010s and would go on to make history later.
2016 Olympics
India earned a qualification to the 2016 Brazil Olympics, but it had an extremely disappointing outing as the team finished last in their group with a draw and four big losses. Sushila Chanu led the Indian side.
2020 Olympics
The Tokyo Olympics in 2020 were special for Team India in women's hockey as they reached the semifinals. They lost to Argentina but showed some amazing fight against Great Britain in the Bronze medal match but lost by 4-3. Rani Rampal was the captain.
Giant expectations to live upto
With an Asian Games bronze and Asian Champions Trophy win last year, momentum is truly on India's side. The Savita Punia-led unit will be aiming to make history and win the first-ever Olympic medal by the Indian women's hockey team. Indian men's side has won 12 on the other hand, with eight of them being gold.