Tokyo Olympics 2020: Amsterdam 1928 to Tokyo 2020, list of all medals won by India men’s hockey team-Sports News , Firstpost

Balbir Singh Sr led India to their third consecutive Olympic gold medal post-independence in the 1956 Games. Image credit: Twitter/@sachin_rt

The Manpreet Singh-led Indian hockey team scripted history on Thursday by winning a bronze medal at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. The team defeated Germany 5-4 to end a 41-year wait for the podium; India’s last hockey medal came at the 1980 Moscow Olympics where they won gold.

With eight gold medals to their credit, India’s men’s hockey team continues to be the most successful unit in history, albeit a staggering majority of these medals came in the pre-artificial turf era.

Here’s a quick look at all instances where the Indian men’s hockey team climbed the Olympics podium:

Gold — Amsterdam, 1928

File image of Indian hockey icon Dhyan Chand. Twitter

The Olympics that presented the wizardry of Major Dhyan Chand to the world. India scored 29 goals in five matches while conceding none en route their first hockey gold. Dhyan Chand sounded the board 14 times. A glorious journey began. India’s run consisted of a 6-0 mauling of Austria, a 9-0 thumping of Belgium, a 5-0 rout of Denmark, a 6-0 decimation of Switzerland, before a 3-0 win over hosts Netherlands in the final.

Gold — Los Angeles, 1932

India started their defence with an 11-1 rout of Japan with Roop Singh, Dhyan Chand’s younger brother, scoring thrice. Dhyan Chand himself scored four times. Next, a 10-goal charge from Roop Singh and eight goals from the wizard himself secured a massive 24-1 win against the USA in the final. The scoreline remains a world record to the day.

Gold — Berlin, 1936

With Dhyan Chand as captain, the Indian hockey team completed a hat-trick of Olympic golds at Berlin 1936. This time, India scored 38 goals in five matches and only conceded one in the final against Germany as Dhyan Chand’s second hat-trick in Olympic finals took them to an 8-1 victory.

Gold – London, 1948

India continued their dominant march in the Olympics after independence in 1947 as a new superstar of the game rose from their ranks in Balbir Singh Sr.. India collected 19 goals in three games to progress to the final, where they hammered hosts Great Britain 4-0 to stretch their Olympic gold-winning streak to four.

Gold – Helsinki, 1952

Braving the cold conditions in Helsinki that they weren’t quite used to back home, the Indian team marched their way to a staggering fifth gold medal on the trot, with Balbir Singh Sr. scoring nine goals in three games. India faced Netherlands in the summit clash, which they won 6-1, five of those goals being scored by Balbir.

Gold — Melbourne, 1956

Balbir Singh Sr led India to their third consecutive Olympic gold medal post-independence in the 1956 Games. Image credit: Twitter/@sachin_rt

It almost started getting hopeless for their opponents at this stage as India won yet another gold in the men’s hockey event at the Olympics to make it an unprecedented six in a row. Of course this time, they would square off against neighbours Pakistan for the first time in the sport, winning the final by a narrow 1-0 margin. What’s more, India maintained a clean sheet throughout their campaign.

Silver — Rome, 1960

After all the years of various teams trying and failing to halt their juggernaut, it was Pakistan that finally brought India’s gold-medal streak in the Olympics to an end as they defeated their neighbours by a 1-0 margin — similar to the one in the 1956 Olympic final, only this time they were the ones to score.

Gold — Tokyo, 1964

After the shock defeat in Rome four years earlier, India were back on top in Olympic hockey as they ended up with gold medals around their necks the last the time Olympics took place in Tokyo. India entered the semis unbeaten, having won four of their six group games, before beating Australia in the semis. They faced Pakistan for a third consecutive time in the final, and the scoreline remained unchanged — 1-0.

Bronze — Mexico City, 1968

The golden era of India hockey was slowly starting to fade around this time, though the Indian team was still a force to reckon. The first time they failed to win a semi-final in the Olympics happened in the Mexican capital in 1968, with the team falling short against Australia in the semis by a 2-1 margin. India, however, would end their campaign on a high by beating West Germany 2-1 in the bronze medal match.

Bronze — Munich, 1972

The 1972 Olympics, remembered for all the wrong reasons in world history, saw India finish outside the top two in hockey for a second consecutive time, this time getting beaten by neighbours and rivals Pakistan 2-0. India once again bounced back from the semi-final defeat, this time beating Netherlands 2-1 in the bronze medal match.

Gold — Moscow, 1980

Moscow would be the last time India would win an Olympic medal in hockey for the next four decades. The path to the final was a relatively easy one thanks to a large number of major hockey forces missing from the Games due to the US-led boycott. In a tweaked format that was the result of a reduced field, India won three and drew two matches in round-robin stage to finish among the top two that qualified for the final. India would then edge Spain 4-3 in the summit clash to collect their eighth gold and 11th medal overall, which would remain their last until Manpreet Singh and Co’s bronze 41 years later.

Bronze — Tokyo, 2020

This was was India’s 12th Olympic hockey medal but the one that came after a gap of 41 years. AP

Manpreet-led Indian team began their campaign with a 3-2 victory over New Zealand, but suffered a 7-1 hammering at the hands of Australia in their second Pool A meeting. They quickly brushed off the defeat though, and would go on to win their next three group games, before defeating Great Britain 3-1 in the quarters to enter the semi-finals for the first time since 1972. It took one bad quarter in the clash against Belgium to leave them vying for bronze, and the team clinched their first medal in decades in spectacular fashion, bouncing from 1-3 down to eke out a thrilling 5-4 win over Germany.