Marco miltkau

Paris Olympic Games: The Indian men's hockey team played its heart out but went down 2-3 to World Champion Germany in the second semifinal at the Paris Olympic Games here on Tuesday, the players falling onto the turf with tears in their eyes. India’s hunt for their first gold medal in 44 years came to a heartbreaking end as Shamsher Singh shot over the crossbar with what was the last hit of the day, missing the equaliser by inches. India were hoping to reach the final for the first time since the 1980 Games in Moscow.

Tokyo Olympic Games bronze medallists are out of contention for the top two spots but have the chance to redeem themselves in the bronze medal match against Spain on Thursday. The country is the leading medallist in hockey at the Olympics and has the chance to win its 14th medal at the Games (eight golds, one silver, three bronze). India will be hoping to win back-to-back medals in the Olympics after the 1972 edition in Munich.

India once again relied on their prolific skipper Harmanpreet Singh for the goals as the 28-year-old opened the scoring through yet another penalty corner in the seventh minute.