Goalkeeper Savita Punia’s 9 key saves and Gurjit Kaur’s 22nd-minute goal help India get historic victory

Tribune Web Desk

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Chandigarh, August 2

It was teamwork and “Chak de” moments for Gurjit Kaur and Savita Punia that helped Indian women’s hockey team script history on Monday as it stormed into the semifinals of the Olympic Games for the first time.

Goalkeeper Savita Punia made nine crucial saves against Australia, while 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.

India’s best performance in the Olympics came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams.

Twitter is elated and below are the reactions:

The wall of Indian hockey – Savita Punia. When played one of the greatest game in history. #INDvsAUS #Olympics2021 pic.twitter.com/6zJZb4l2cY

— Smita Deshmukh 🇮🇳 (@smitadeshmukh) August 2, 2021

Scenes in #Tokyo2020 #Olympics from #hockeyindia women’s team after beating Australia in quarterfinals. Savita Punia Take a Bow lady 🙌. #ChakDeIndia 🇮🇳

– One of the greatest moments in Indian Sports. pic.twitter.com/LV8X6LlEFr

— Abhi (@Abhicricket18) August 2, 2021

Savita Punia is the name to remember for generations. She saved 9 penalty corners.

Take a bow Champ🙏#OlympicGames #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/bgiepAtfko

— ✡️ 𝓝𝓪𝓷𝓲 ✡️ 𝓙𝓪𝓷𝓪𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓪 ✡️ (@Nani__JanaSena) August 2, 2021

A goal that will go in the history books! 🙌

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

— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 2, 2021

“Gurjit Kaur” “History Created” Australia “Indian Girls” #Girlpower “Jai Ho” #चक_दे_इंडिया https://t.co/JXGlfYzYS0

— Anmol Lukkad (@AnmolLukkad) August 2, 2021