The Women in Blue kept their qualification hopes alive with a 4-3 win against South Africa in their Pool A Women’s Hockey match on Saturday, at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
Vandana Katariya becomes the first Indian Women’s Hockey Player to score a hat-trick at the Olympics and helped the team to clinch 3 crucial points in the competition.
India’s place in the knock-out stage depends on the match between Ireland and Great Britain scheduled at 5:15 PM IST today.
If Great Britain defeat Ireland or draw the game, India will go through to the Quarter-Finals with a fourth-place finish in Pool A.
Meanwhile, Kamalpreet Kaur gave one of the best performances by an Indian in the Olympics thus finishing second and making it into the finals of the women’s Discus Throw final with a 64.00 throw during qualification.
The 25-year-old Kaur sent the discus to a distance of 64m in her third and final attempt to be one of the only two qualifiers for the final round, the other being American Valarie Allman (66.42m).
The final will held on August 2. The Indian ended ahead of defending gold-medallist Sandra Perkovic (63.75m) of Croatia and reigning world champion Yaime Perez (63.18) of Cuba. Kaur began with a 60.29m effort and then improved it to 63.97m before her third throw of 64m. Those who touch 64m or at least 12 best performers in the two qualifying rounds advance to the final.
