Paris 2024 hockey: Breakdown, highlights, stats and top performers for 4 August

By Sam Peene

4 min|

Picture by Lars Baron/Getty Images

It was a dramatic day of hockey at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on 4 August, as the men’s quarter-finals saw triumph and heartbreak as only Spain, India, Germany and the Netherlands progress to the semi-finals.

Notably missing from that lineup are the reigning Olympic champions Belgium, who after their first loss of the entire tournament, will no longer have a shot at defending their Olympic title.

India and Great Britain kicked off the day of play at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir, and it was India who defeated the world No. 2 Brits in an overtime shoot-out, as the odds were stacked against them with a man down for nearly three-quarters of the match. Before Paris, India sat three places behind the Brits on the FIH world rankings.

When two-time Olympian Harmanpreet Singh was asked whether or not he believes that India could take their first Olympic gold in men’s hockey since 1980, he said “We can. The belief is there, the team is very confident after the game and we are going to go higher and higher.”

The second game of the day was Spain’s major upset over Belgium, recapped further below.

Right after the Tokyo 2020 gold medallists were eliminated from the tournament, the silver medallists from three years ago also lost their opportunity to improve their standing as Australia was beaten by the Netherlands.

Germany’s victory over Argentina concluded the day and the four remaining men’s teams will take the Olympic stage next for the semi-finals on 6 August as tensions continue to rise.

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Spectators at the Yves-du-Manoir celebrate Germany's victory over Argentina in the quarter-finals

Picture by Lars Baron/Getty Images

Game of the day: Belgium upset by Spain

Sitting in eighth place on the world leaderboard, few people expected Spain to pull out a win over world No. 1 and reigning Olympic champions, Belgium.

Before tonight, the Belgians had remained undefeated with high hopes of defending their Olympic title. But a crucial goal from Marc Miralles three minutes from time would give Spain a surprise 3-2 victory.

“We have a lot of things to be proud of - it is the first Olympics for 13 guys out of 16 and it’s unbelievable given how young we are, how well we played. I hope we can do the same in two days (in the semi-final) and hopefully the final,” said Miralles.

“I didn’t realise how many people we had (supporting us) until we won the game and looked at the crowd. It was unbelievable.”

Team Spain pose for a photo following their quarter-final win over Belgium

Picture by Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images

Player of the day: India’s dream-preserving keeper, Sreejesh Parattu

In what could be argued as one of the biggest upsets of the Games so far, India defeated world No. 2 Great Britain after playing one man down for nearly three-quarters of the match.

At the end of regulation time, the score was tied up 1-1, sending the two teams into an overtime shoot-out.

Great Britain’s James Albery was first up. He shot and he scored. That was followed by a successful counter from India’s Singh**,** before both teams made another, bringing the overtime score to 2-2.

Next came a devastating moment for the Brits as they missed the first overtime shot of the night and watched India counter with a successful shot. At 3-2 to India, Indian keeper Sreejesh Parattu saved the sixth shot of the night, solidifying his country’s spot in the semi-final.

“He’s a legend, man, no doubt,” Singh said of Parattu after the match.

“This is his last tournament and he’s playing like this. So we are looking forward and we still have two matches to go. We’ll give our best.”