Tokyo: The Indian men's hockey team scripted one of the greatest comebacks in recent history as they came back from 1-3 down to beat Germany 5-4 in the bronze medal play-off match at the Oi Hockey Stadium, here on Thursday. This victory ended the country's 41-year medal drought at the Olympic Games.

It was Simranjeet Singh (17', 34'), Hardik Singh (27'), Harmanpreet Singh (29'), Rupinder Pal Singh (31') who scored while PR Sreejesh came up with some outstanding saves in the dying seconds of a historic win at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Earlier, Germany started on an aggressive note, taking the lead in the second minute with a deflected goal from Timur Oruz. Germany dominated the first quarter but India's goalkeeper Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh thwarted their efforts by keeping out the shots.

In the second quarter, India's Simranjeet Singh scored the equaliser before Germany restored the lead through Niklas Wellen. Benedikt Furk then shot into an unguarded net after India conceded possession, to go 3-1 ahead. Two penalty corners for India saw Hardik Singh score on the rebound from the first, while Harmanpreet Singh nailed the second. Going into half time it was 3-3.

India started brightly in the third quarter earning a penalty stroke in the first minute from which Rupinder Pal Singh scored to extend India’s lead to 4-2. Three minutes later, Simranjeet scored his second goal of the game to extend India’s lead to 5-3.

Germany scored another goal in the fourth quarter courtesy of Lukas Windfeder but it was not enough as India won the match 5-4 to take the bronze.