After the dream run for India's men's hockey team at the Tokyo Olympics came to a sad end on Tuesday with a 2-5 loss against Belgium, all eyes will be set on the Indian women's hockey team, who will take on Argentina in the semifinal on Wednesday. The Indian women's hockey team are the dark horse and expectations are high from them.
However, despite the stellar performance by the Indian eves, Argentina is expected to give tough competition to them and come with more experience into the all-important semifinal. Here's all you need to know about the match.
Tough Opponents
Both the teams so far have had a dream run at the Tokyo Olympics. However, the Indian team led by Rani Rampal have been in the spotlight given that this is the first time the women's hockey team has reached the semifinal stage at any Olympics.
India women's hockey team is currently ranked World No. 9, while the Argentine team is World No. 5.
Prior to the Olympics, the India's women's hockey team toured Argentina, where they played seven matches, with disappointing results.
The first two matches were against Argentina's junior women's team. India drew both the matches. The Indian eves then played two matches against Argentina's B team and lost both. They then faced the senior team in three matches and managed one draw and lost the other two matches.
When and Where?
Despite having an unforgettable tour of Argentina, the India eves look quite changed and are brimming with confidence at the Tokyo Olympics. They go into the semifinal after pulling off a confident 1-0 victory against the formidable Australia.
The match will be played on August 4, at 3:30 pm IST at Oi Hockey Stadium- North Pitch, Tokyo, Japan.
How to Watch
The India vs Belgium match will be broadcast live on Sony Ten 2 in English and Sony Ten 3 in Hindi. The official broadcaster of the Tokyo Olympics in India is Sony Sports Network and the coverage will be live on five network channels and 4 languages.
The country's state-run channel Doordarshan will also air the match live.
In the UK, the BBC and Eurosport will broadcast the match at 1.30 am (GST) on Tuesday. The BBC will have free-to-air coverage on its terrestrial channels, while Eurosport is a subscription channel.
How to Watch Online
The Indian vs Argentina match will be live-streamed on Sony LIV. However, users will need a premium subscription to watch the match live. For logging on to watch the match click here.
Users can also watch it on Jio, which will livestream the match on its Jio TV app.
In the UK, TV licence fee-payers can stream the action for free on the BBC website and via the BBC iPlayer app. Eurosport subscribers can stream the action online or via the Eurosport Player app.
In the United States and North America, the match will be livestreamed on NBC's app. Click here.
