Lisa Nolte happily threw her racket in the air, then let her charging teammates cheer her on. With her cheeky penalty through her own legs, the 22-year-old shot the German hockey women to Paris. The dramatic 4:3 win against hosts India in the shootout of the semi-final was enough for the Olympic ticket in the qualifying tournament – which the men also came a big step closer to.
“It’s simply outstanding what great conviction this team has until the last second,” said match winner Nolte: “Together we won this penalty shootout, now we are extremely proud.”
Strong fighting performance
It was 2:2 (1:1) after regular time and two goals from Charlotte Stapenhorst (27th/57th). Nolte’s hour came in the nerve-wracking thriller – the young Düsseldorf striker kept her calm and scored two penalties in front of an impressive backdrop in hockey-crazy India.
The DHB team avoided a nerve-wracking playoff thanks to their strong fighting performance, which was rewarded in the end. There is no sporting value in the final on Saturday against the USA, which also qualified.
In addition to the basketball world champions and the volleyball men, the hockey women are the third German team from classic team sports to have qualified for Paris. In addition, the European team champions in table tennis have secured their place.
Men on course
In the morning, the men in Oman had booked their semi-final ticket and taken a big step towards Paris. After the confident 3-0 (2-0) against outsiders Chile in the final group game, the world champion is only missing a win in the next two games.
Tom Grambusch (15th) and Gonzalo Peillat (22nd) scored from penalty corners for national coach André Henning’s team, which had come under pressure due to the slightly surprising 2-2 draw against New Zealand on Tuesday. Justus Weigand (49th) scored the third goal of the game. The fourth-placed team in Tokyo has the first opportunity to buy their Olympic ticket on Saturday (5:30 p.m. live in the stream at sportschau.de) in the semi-final against Pakistan.
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“All in all, we played well. Now we are looking forward to the semi-finals,” said goalscorer Grambusch, praising the dominant performance from the start. Successful qualification is considered a must for his team, which surprisingly won the World Cup title at the beginning of 2023.