Tokyo Olympics: Great Britain and Hinch to contest women's hockey bronze medal after semi-final defeat

Great Britain’s women and Maddie Hinch will fight for a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics after suffering a semi-final defeat to the Netherlands.
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The reigning world champions were at their brilliant best with two goals inside a minute giving them a 2-0 lead going into half-time.

It was a ruthless showing from the Dutch who had two more just eight minutes after the restart to put them firmly in the driver’s seat.

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Though Giselle Ansley did bring one back for Great Britain, the damage had already been done with the team falling to a 5-1 defeat as Frederique Matla ended any hopes of a late comeback.

Maddie Hinch does her best to keep the Dutch at bay in Great Britain women's Olympic hockey semi-final. Picture by Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty ImagesMaddie Hinch does her best to keep the Dutch at bay in Great Britain women's Olympic hockey semi-final. Picture by Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images
Maddie Hinch does her best to keep the Dutch at bay in Great Britain women's Olympic hockey semi-final. Picture by Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images

The result means that GB will contest the bronze medal match on Friday and will face the loser of today’s second semi-final between Argentina and India.

Maddie Hinch, whose family live in West Chiltington, said: “We need to look at what we got wrong today but also believe that we’re still a good side and that there’s a reason we’re fighting for a medal here – we haven’t done that by luck.

"We just need to believe that we’ll come home with it and not overthink this too much, they’re an unbelievable side who will punish you if you get things wrong. It’s a learning and it wasn’t our day today.

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“Their goals today were world class, and you sometimes have to just say 'you know what, they were better than us today and that’s that'.

“We just weren’t quite there today. It just wasn’t from any lack of effort; it just wasn’t our day.

“We’ve got to be proud of why we’re here, why we’re fighting for a medal in the first place and believe we can do it.

"That’s one thing we learned from Rio. It’s the power of belief, the togetherness, and the ability for everyone to play their part to get there because whoever we play next, it’s going to be tough.

“Given the whole cycle, Covid-19, a change of coaches, there’s so much this group has been through so the bronze would be massive for us.”