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Anilava Chatterjee, Tokyo: The Indian Women's Hockey Team put up a valiant effort against Argentina in the Semi-Final of the Tokyo Olympics at the Oi Hockey Stadium here on Wednesday. Rani Rampal and her team found a breakthrough in the second minute of the match itself; however they couldn't hold on to their lead and eventually went down 2-1 in the match.

Talking about the disappointing loss, captain Rani Rampal said, “First of all we all are disappointed. We were so close to winning gold or silver. It was close fight with Argentina. They converted both their chances whereas we failed. I think today was not our day. Argentina deserved to be the winners. We did not play well in the first two quarters but played a lot more energetic hockey in the last two quarters. Still we have a chance to win bronze. We will go back and look where we need to improve. We have made improvements with every match in the tournament.”

Rani added, “We started off well and went ahead. But you cannot give opportunities against top teams as they can make you pay. We move on to the next game now as we still have chance to win bronze medal.”

The women’s team will have another go at winning bronze medal as they face Great Britain on Friday.

“I have the belief in my team that we will come back strongly. As a captain I need to keep the team united.”

Head Coach Sjoerd Marijne too voice the same views as Rani about the upcoming semi final clash against Great Britain. According to the Dutch coach, “Look you can be sad and disappointed as you don’t get opportunities like these. But the reality is we also have one more chance to win medal. Key will be to stay as a team when things are not going your way and that is what I am asking from the girls. I just want to remind them to stay together as a team and we still have a chance.”

It’s not finished. We can still recover and go for that bronze medal. I think we lost a lot in the past and now is our chance,” he added.

On being asked about what has been the biggest take ways from the semi final loss, Marijne said, “The biggest take way for me is the girls were playing the semi final of Olympics. All these time they were watching it on television and this time they actually were part of it.

Sjoerd felt the Indian girls put up a decent show against Argentina.   

“I thought it was pretty much a fifty-fifty match. Argentina had more possessions and also got a few penalty corners. But what concerns me is when you get PC you have to convert them into goals. Argentina had a lot of experience compared to our girls who were playing first time in the semi final of Olympics. There were a bit of nerves as well which was quite obvious. I thought Argentina were a bit lucky to score the second goal. We defended well but we don’t have everything in our control. I think we can be very proud how we played Argentina.”

Gurjit Kaur, who scored the only goal for the Indians said, “Semi final matches are not easy. Each one of us gave their 100 percent and gave their full effort. You were just two matches away from a gold medal. We could have won as well. It’s all part of game. We kept pressing hard for the goal towards the end but it did not come.