Vandana Katariya who scored three of India’s four goals against South Africa in the final pool A hockey game became the first Indian woman to register a hat-trick at the Olympics here at Oi Hockey Stadium — South Pitch on Saturday.
The 29-year-old forward’s three goals made sure that the women’s hockey team’s hopes to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics remain intact as it will now depend on the outcome of Ireland and Great Britain game.
“She shoots, she scores! Vandana Katariya scored 3 of #IND ‘s 4 goals in their match against #RSA to become the first Indian woman to register a hat-trick at the Olympics!” Tokyo 2020 for India tweeted.
She shoots, she scores! 🏑😍
Vandana Katariya scored 3 of #IND‘s 4 goals in their match against #RSA to become the first Indian woman to register a hat-trick at the Olympics! 😍#Tokyo2020 | #StrongerTogether | #UnitedByEmotion | #Hockey pic.twitter.com/jfUaqyO1He
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) July 31, 2021
In their five Group Stage matches, India won two and lost three. Katariya scored her first two goals in the starting two-quarters of the match and completed the hattrick by scoring the winner in fourth. Neha Goyal was the other scorer for India as the team edged South Africa 4-3 in a thriller.
