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| - Fact Check: Why some people think India reached Olympics men's hockey semis after 41 years
A Facebook post with the false claim that the Indian men's hockey team reached the Olympics semifinal after 41 years, has gone viral.
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India Today Fact Check
In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, India had won the gold medal. But it had qualified for the finals directly from the group stage. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, India lost to Pakistan in the semifinal. So technically, the Indian men’s hockey team would play in an Olympics semifinal after 49 years.
On August 1, the Indian men’s hockey team defeated Great Britain to secure a place in the last four of the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The performance by Manpreet Singh and his men has taken social media by storm.
Several Facebook users congratulated the Indian hockey team and claimed, “Chakde!India. Finally, after 41 years, team India reaches the semis of the Olympics. One of the greatest moments indeed. #Tokyo2020 #india #Olympics”.
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India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, India had won the gold medal. But it did not play the quarter final or semifinal in that tournament and qualified for the finals directly from the group stage. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, India had lost the semifinal to Pakistan.
Posts with similar claims are saved here, here, here, here.
India’s golden run
Several media reports claim that the Indian hockey team would compete in an Olympic semifinal after 49 years.
It means that while some are claiming that India had played the semifinal during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, others are claiming that India entered the Olympics semifinal for the last time in the 1972 Munich games.
We first conducted a keyword search to find out reports on Indian men’s hockey team during the 1980 Moscow Olympics. On July 17, 2012, “The Hindu” had published an article that gives an insight on the Indian team’s performance in that Olympics.
The article says that protesting against Russian presence in Afghanistan several nations had decided to boycott the games and the men’s hockey tournament got reduced to just six teams. India had played six matches in the tournament five in the group stage, and the final.
Just before the Tokyo Olympics, “Hockey India” had published a series of articles on its website. The series carried interviews of former Indian players who shared their experiences of different Olympics.
In one such article MM Somaya, member of the 1980 Olympics squad was quoted saying, “In the end when we had to play our final Pool match against Soviet Union, we had to win to qualify for the Final.”
It means India had qualified for the final directly from the group stage in that tournament.
We again conducted a keyword search for the 1972 Munich Olympics and found an article by “The Hindu”.
The article clearly states that in the 1972 Olympics, India was defeated in the semifinal by Pakistan. Eventually, it won against Holland to clinch the bronze.
Between 1972 and 1980 Olympics, India went on to play the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and finished seventh in the hockey tournament.
To further confirm the claim, we got in touch with MM Somaya. “In that tournament (1980), the format was different. We reached the final directly after the Round Robin league. However, that was the last time when India had won the Olympic medal in hockey,” he said.
Confirming the development, Hockey India president Gyanendro Ningombam told AFWA, “Yes, there’s this confusion that needs to be be clarified. In 1980, there was no quarter final or semifinal and the first two teams in the league table directly played the final. Before that, India played the semifinal in 1972. So technically, we should say that India would play Olympic semifinal after 49 years.”
Therefore, we can conclude that the Indian men’s hockey team reached the Olympics semifinal in Tokyo after 49 years.
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