India men’s hockey team defeated Germany to win the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. This is India’s first Olympic medal in hockey since they won the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. It is India’s third hockey bronze medal in the history of the Olympics.
India won their first medal in Olympic hockey by beating Netherlands 3-0 in the finals of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. This was also India’s first gold medal ever at the Olympics. India are the most successful team at the Olympics in men’s hockey with eight gold medals.
Indian men once ruled the Olympic hockey tournament, winning six successive golds from 1928 to 1956. When they claimed the top prize for an eighth time at the 1980 Moscow Games, no one could have guessed that they would have been left in Olympic wilderness for the next four decades.
However, In the last few years, the Indian team has achieved important milestones, including winning the Asia Cup in 2017, claiming the Asian Champions Trophy in 2018 as well as winning the FIH Series Final in 2019 over the past four years.