Tokyo Olympics: Maddie Hinch’s shootout saves put Great Britain in hockey semi-finals
| Dates: 23 July-8 August Time in Tokyo: BST +8 |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sounds; live text and video clips on BBC Sport website and app. |
Great Britain goalkeeper Maddie Hinch repeated her Rio 2016 heroics, saving all four of Spain’s attempts in a shootout to secure the defending champions’ place in the semi-finals.
GB’s Hannah Martin and Sarah Jones both found the target to win the shootout 2-0 after the score was 2-2 at full-time.
The side will face the Netherlands in the semi-finals – the opponents they beat to claim gold in Rio.
Argentina and India are in Wednesday’s other semi-final.
Hinch also saved all four of the Netherlands’ shootout efforts to claim Great Britain’s first Olympic hockey gold in Rio, but a much-changed side lost 1-0 to the Dutch in the Tokyo 2020 pool stage.
Great Britain’s Lily Owsley described Hinch as a “big-game keeper after the quarter-final win, with the keeper herself adding “you shouldn’t fear” shootouts.
“It’s just a chance for you to do your part,” said Hinch, 32.
“I didn’t fear it today, I felt ready. I’m quietly confident in my ability to do it, but it doesn’t always go like that.”
Martin put GB ahead in the second quarter with a superb individual effort, before Spain’s Belen Iglesias Marcos equalised.
Grace Balsdon once against gave the defending champions the advantage with a powerful shot from a penalty corner before Spain’s Berta Bonastre Peremateu levelled things again with nine minutes left to play.
Earlier on Monday India claimed a shock 1-0 win over Australia to reach the women’s hockey semi-finals for the first time, while Argentina beat Germany 3-0.
The Netherlands advanced to the last four with a 3-0 victory against New Zealand.
Owsley said “we’re here to cause some upsets” ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final and responded to those who have criticised some of the side’s poor performances between Olympics.
“The more people that write us off, the better – we’ll show them,” she added.
“We’ve had a rocky few years – I know everyone’s gone through the pandemic – we only got [head coach] Mark [Hager] in a few years ago so it’s been a real rebuilding process and it’s taken us a bit of time.
“Now we’re playing a nice game of hockey, we’ve got that attacking flair, but we’ve also got the ‘British Bulldog’ side back. It’s really exciting times and I think this is the best we’ve played in a long time.”
