On Thursday, the Indian men's national hockey team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympic Games with a convincing 3-1 win over defending champion Argentina in their penultimate Pool A match. Goals from Varun Kumar, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Harmanpreet Singh sealed the deal for India.
This is only the second time that India has beaten an Olympics defending champion. The only other occasion the Indian men's hockey team has defeated the defending Olympic champion in a Games was in 1964, again in Tokyo. In the final, India defeated the 1960 Rome Olympics winner, Pakistan 1-0. In their chase for the title in 2016, India was also the only team to defeat Argentina.
Earlier in the competition, India had defeated New Zealand 3-2, lost to Australia 7-1, then made a comeback against Spain by beating them 3-0, and today they beat the defending champion Argentina 3-1.
The victory increased the hope of a medal in the event and the fans back home are not shy about expressing their feelings on Twitter.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)