A Monday morning has never been so memorable for me. The Indian women’s hockey team has made us all proud by entering the semi-finals of the Olympic Games for the first time in history. Nobody gave them a chance against Australia, three-time Olympic champions and No. 2 in the FIH rankings, but Rani Rampal and her fiery friends showed the world what they are capable of. I had thought if they make the last-eight stage that would be more than enough. But they had other plans. A team, which finished last in the Rio Olympics five years back, is now in the semis!

The 1-0 victory will go down in the history of women’s hockey in India as one of the great and gutsy wins. What a mind-blowing performance it was! Pardon me if I am going overboard but days like these make you feel over the moon. I am confident this win will see a resurgence of women’s hockey in India.

It’s a great opportunity now for both men and women to bag medals. They just need to win one of the two matches and India will be on the podium in hockey.

For the women, the build-up to Tokyo was not satisfactory. They lost matches during their exposure tours to Germany and Argentina early this year. They also had to deal with the dreaded virus when captain Rani and six other players and two members of the support staff tested positive for Covid-19 in late April. These women though refused to get bogged down by the adversity.

The best part of the quarter final match was that India did not get cowed down by Australia’s reputation. The Aussies topped Pool B while India were fourth in their pool.

I have always said group matches count for little. You can win all your matches in the group yet book an early flight by losing the first knockout game.

In Tokyo, the Indian women started badly but recovered well to record back-to-back victories which took them to the quarters. In the knock-outs, the funniest part is whoever plays well on the particular day will be on top. India did just that against Australia. They defended doggedly and not for a second did they lose focus.

Goalkeeper Savita Punia was in a different zone. She had answers to everything the mighty Australians threw at her, saving as many as nine penalty corners. Deep Grace Ekka also was like a rock in the defence. Rani, Monika Malik, Gurjit Kaur were also brilliant. Gurjit did not have a good tournament but she delivered when it mattered the most by converting the only penalty corner in the 22nd minute. Rani was unlucky not to find her name on the scoresheet when her push hit the post early in the match.

Dutch coach Sjoerd Marijne and other members of the support staff also deserve credit for this show. To keep a whole bunch of players motivated during the pandemic is no joke. Marijne has done a wonderful job till now. We now face Argentina on Wednesday and the momentum is with India.

The men have a tough match against Belgium on Tuesday. They have to ensure they do not concede penalty corners against a team which has been outstanding in that department. Alexander Hendrickx, the Belgian drag-flicker, has already scored 11 goals, including two against Spain on Sunday. He can punish us badly if we lose focus.

• A former India captain, Gurbux Singh was a member of the 1964 gold medal-winning hockey team