History of India Women’s Hockey Team

Here is the Olympic history of India Women’s Hockey Team

Indian women’s hockey team created history in Tokyo Olympics. In the quarter-final match played against Australia, they won 1-0 and made it to the semi-finals.

This is the first time in Olympic history that team India’s women’s hockey team has reached the semi-finals. India will now face Argentina in the semi-finals.

1980 Olympics and some other games

• India’s breakthrough performance came at the Women’s Hockey World Cup at Mandelieu in 1974, where it finished in 4th place
• Their best performance in the Olympic Games came at 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics, where the team finished at 4th spot.
• India Women’s team defeated Korea in the finals to win the Gold medal at the inaugural 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi.
• Captain Suraj Lata Devi inspired her team to the Gold for three consecutive years during the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, and the 2004 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup.

• After the 2004 win, the team members were referred to as the “assi (Jasjeet) jaisi koi nahi” or the “Golden Girls of Hockey,”.
• The team finished at 3rd-place at the 2013 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur defeating China in a shootout.
• At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the team finished in 5th place. However, at the 2014 Asian Games, India defeated Japan 2-1 to clinch their third bronze medal in the tournament.
• During the 2014–15 Women’s FIH Hockey World League, the team hosted the Round 2 of the tournament and finished on top to qualify for the next stage.

Also Read: Olympic History of Indian Men’s Hockey Team

• At the World League Semifinals held in Antwerp the team defeated Japan in classification match and finished in the fifth place.
• India qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics for the first time since the 1980 Summer Olympics. They were eliminated in the group stage, however, where they placed 6th.

2002 Commonwealth Games

• The Indian Women’s Hockey Team entered the finals of 2002 Commonwealth Games after defeating New Zealand. They were placed first, winning the Gold after they beat the English team.
• The 2007 Bollywood film about women’s field hockey, Chak De! India starring Shah Rukh Khan, is based on this incident.

• This movie is not a documentary of Mir Ranjan Negi’s life. It is in fact the story of a team that becomes a winning lot from a bunch of hopeless girls”.