Coach Marijne urges girls to focus on bronze after 1-2 loss to Argentina

Neha Goyal (left) and Navneet Kaur are distraught after the loss to Argentina. Pic/AFP

The Indian women's hockey team has learnt to bounce back from losses, said chief coach Sjoerd Marijne, adding that the defeat to Argentina in the semi-final is history as the side focusses on claiming a historic bronze.

A brave Indian women's hockey team put up a gritty performance but it was not enough to secure a maiden Olympic final berth as it lost 1-2 to World No. 2 Argentina in a hard-fought semi-final on Wednesday.

The Indians fought valiantly and gave Argentina a run for their money by taking the lead in the second minute through a penalty corner conversion by Gurjit Kaur.

Sjoerd Marijne

But the Las Leonas bounced back strongly with skipper Maria Barrionuevo's (18th, 36th minutes) twin strikes from penalty corners to secure the hard-fought win.

India still have a chance to win the bronze medal as they will take on Great Britain in the third-fourth place play-off match on Friday.

"We came here to win a medal and still there's one [available]. It's now about recovery, about the mindset. The good thing is, it's not always good that we lost a lot in the past but we also have learned to deal with the losses," Marijne said.

"So it's okay, what can we improve on from this match," he added.

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