Hyderabad: A true 'Chake De' moment happened on Monday after the Rani Rampal-led Indian women's hockey team stunned Australia 1-0 in the quarterfinals match at the Tokyo Olympics.
The team became the first ever Indian women side to make it to the semi-finals.
A day after the Indian men's team entered the Olympic semis following a 49-year gap, the world no. 9 women's side also produced a phenomenally gritty performance to make it way into the last four.
Read: INTERVIEW: 'We can beat any team,' says Rani Rampal ahead of Tokyo Olympics
Drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur rose to the occasion when it mattered and converted India's lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise the Australians.
Wach the goal here:
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A goal that will go in the history books! 🙌
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 2, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
Watch Gurjit Kaur's brilliant drag flick that led #IND to a 1-0 win over #AUS in an epic quarter-final 😍#Tokyo2020 | #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Hockey | #BestOfTokyo pic.twitter.com/MkXqjprLxo
">A goal that will go in the history books! 🙌
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 2, 2021
Watch Gurjit Kaur's brilliant drag flick that led #IND to a 1-0 win over #AUS in an epic quarter-final 😍#Tokyo2020 | #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Hockey | #BestOfTokyo pic.twitter.com/MkXqjprLxoA goal that will go in the history books! 🙌
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 2, 2021
Watch Gurjit Kaur's brilliant drag flick that led #IND to a 1-0 win over #AUS in an epic quarter-final 😍#Tokyo2020 | #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Hockey | #BestOfTokyo pic.twitter.com/MkXqjprLxo
How much it meant for the team and Indian hockey in general could be gauged from the emotions that were on display after the final hooter went off.
The players screamed, hugged each other, and got into a huddle with their Dutch coach Sjoerd Marijne with tears of joy rolling down their faces.
India's best performance in the Olympics came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams.
In that edition of the Games, women's hockey made its debut in the Olympics and the sport was played in a round-robin format with top two teams qualifying for the final.
The Rani Rampal-led side will play Argentina in the semifinal on Wednesday.