On a day when the ‘Men in Blue’ (the Indian cricket team) disappointed millions of cricket fans across the country and elsewhere by tamely going down to Sri Lanka in the first one-dayer at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh yesterday, the Indian hockey team brought some cheers by winning the bronze medal at the on-going World Hockey League in Bhubaneswar.

Top eight teams as ranked by the International Hockey Federation have been taking part in the World Hockey League tournament which is going on at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. India, which qualified for the semi-finals and took on Olympic champion Argentina on Friday, faltered and lost to Argentina.

Yesterday, it clashed with Germany yesterday for the bronze medal. Sunil put India in the lead in the first-half but the lead was leveled soon after some poor defending by the players in the second-half. However, Harmanpreet converted a penalty corner into a match-winning goal six minutes before the conclusion of the game, thus giving some cheers to the crowds as India won the bronze medal.

India is ranked sixth in the world. Later, in a clash between the top-two ranked teams, Australia beat Argentina 2-1 to clinch the gold medal.