India’s men’s hockey team went down 2-3 against Germany in the Paris 2024 semi-finals on Tuesday, setting up a bronze medal clash against Spain.

The Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist will be up for an exciting challenge against Spain, who registered an upset over defending Olympic champions Belgium in the quarter-finals but were blanked 4-0 by the Netherlands in the final four contest.

Captain Harmanpreet Singh (7′) led from the front to open the scoring for India while it was cut short by two consecutive goals from Germany’s Gonzalo Peillat (23′) and Christopher Ruehr (27′). However, Sukhjeet Singh brought India back on level terms by converting a penalty corner in the 36th minute but it was not enough as Marco Miltkau netted the winner in the 54th.

Following the equalizer from Sukhjeet, India’s defense was continued to be tested by the attacking German side. But Team India’s custodian PR Sreejesh did well to keep the side in the game with Vivek Prasad making a crucial goal-line save. However, the Germans were able to convert the relentless pressure into a winning goal.

Head coach Craig Fulton had spoken about their defence their win over Great Britain in the quarter-finals. “We’ve been talking about defence for 14 months and we dug deep and Sri (Sreejesh) was immense. When you talk about defence, it’s also about showing your love for your teammate by covering him and helping him. And Sreejesh did that for us and we did that for him.”

“Everything is at stake. And everything went the other way than we thought it would go. So, what an amazing day. That’s why I’m saying it’s a statement versus a match.”

India will be now vying for a second consecutive medal at the Games on Wednesday.