The Indian men's hockey team came agonisingly close to making its first Olympic final after 44 years but world champion Germany denied it with a tight 3-2 win in a hard-fought semifinal. Aiming to better the colour of their medal won in Tokyo three years back, India created more opportunities but the Germans took their limited chances and exacted revenge for their Tokyo Games bronze play-off defeat. India got 11 penalty corners but converted only two while Germany converted one out of the four, apart from capitalising on a penalty stroke and a field goal.
