Olympics 2024: India Put One Foot In Hockey Quarter-Finals With 2-0 Win Over Ireland

The Indian men's hockey team expectedly beat Ireland despite a few defense lapses to more or less secure its passage into the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics, with skipper Harmanpreet scoring a brace in a 2-0 win in a Pool B match on Tuesday. Unlike the previous two matches, India penetrated the rival circle consistently and dictated play in the first half. It was expected, considering that Ireland were the easiest of the opponents in this pool.

India were, however, far from convincing in the second half, but the win has taken them to seven points from three matches while the defeat has ousted Ireland from the quarterfinal race.

Belgium and Australia, both unbeaten, have six points each and they play against each other later in the day.

India just about managed to edge New Zealand 3-2 before holding Argentina to a 1-1 draw in their previous two outings.

Most likely, Argentina and New Zealand will fight for the fourth spot in this Pool. The top four teams from each of the two pools qualify for the quarterfinals.

Harmanpreet (13th and 19th minutes) struck once each in the first two quarters, while the second half remained goal-less despite both teams earning plenty of penalty corners. Ireland were profligate, squandering 10 chances.

"We should not have conceded that many PCs in the second half. We have to work on that. But at the same time, we did not concede a goal and that tells our PC defence. But yes, we can't afford so many PCs," defender Jarmanpreet Singh told PTI.

Sukhjeet said the team struggled to control the ball in the latter half.

"We could not control the ball in the third quarter and they made full use of that. They are a good team, we expected a comeback. Yet, we did better in the final quarter," he