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India missed a golden chance to enter the men’s hockey final of the Olympics for the first time in 44 years as they went down 2-3 to Germany in a close semi-final in Paris on Tuesday.
The Indians started brightly and dominated the early exchanges before the Germans settled down.
It was a great opportunity for India to enter their first final of the Olympics since the 1980 Games but Germany dashed their hopes with a decisive goal in the fourth and final quarter.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh (7th minute) and Sukhjeet Singh (36th) struck for India, while Gonzalo Peillat (18th), Christopher Ruhr (27th) and Marco Miltkau (54th) were Germany’s scorers.
India will now take on Spain in the bronze medal match, while Germany are up against the Netherlands in the final.
The Indians were on the front foot, pressing the German defence hard in the opening quarter and in the process scored the first goal of the match through Harmanpreet.
But the Germans, known for their steely resolve, came back strongly in the second and equalised from a penalty-corner through Peillat, before taking the lead through a penalty stroke conversion by Ruhr.
The Indians scored both their goals through penalty-corners, as in the 36th minute Sukhjeet nicely deflected in a variation from Harmanpreet's flick.
The Germans attacked with intensity in the fourth and final quarter and with just six minutes from the final hooter scored the winner when Miltkau deflected in a cross to break Indian hearts.
The Indians had their chances in the match as they earned as many as 11 penalty-corners but converted just one.
Germany secured only four penalty-corners.
Earlier, cheers erupted from the sea of orange blanketing the crowd just before the final whistle as Dutch fans showed up in force.
They will play in their first Olympics final since London 2012 as they bid to end a 24-year gold medal drought.
Spain, who lost 5-3 to the Dutch in their Pool A match, will get their first chance to compete for a medal since 2008 in the bronze medal match.
Netherlands defender Jip Janssen opened the scoring with a converted penalty stroke in the 12th minute after goalkeeper Luis Calzado kicked the legs out from under forward Tjep Hoedemakers while going for the ball.
Captain Thierry Brinkman got the second in the 20th, collecting a rebound off Spain defender Ignacio Rodriguez's stick and blasting the ball into the net for his first goal of the Paris Games.
"I was waiting for that moment for the whole tournament because I had a bit of bad luck in the nine yards. All the balls were not coming to my stick, so I was waiting for this moment," Brinkman said.
"You have to keep the patience always as an international striker. The most important ball is the next ball, the next chance you get."
The scoring continued in the opening minutes of the third quarter as forward Thijs van Dam sank his shot with plenty of space in the circle after two Spain defenders collided trying to collect a deep pass by the Netherlands skipper.
The crowd again erupted in the 50th minute when forward Duco Telgenkamp scored the Dutch team's fourth.
"We didn't do a lot of things wrong, but the small details killed us," Spain skipper Marc Miralles said.
"They did not have that many chances I think, but they were very efficient and that's definitely what we need to improve for the next game."
