This is India’s first win over Australia at the Olympics in 52 years. The last time India beat Australia (3-1) in men’s hockey was at the 1972 Games.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh (13th, 32nd) struck a brace enroute his sixth goal in the tournament, while Abhishek gave India the lead in the 12th minute.
Australia’s goals were scored by Tom Craig (25th) and Blake Govers (55th).
Earlier in the day, Indian pistol shooter Manu Bhaker, aiming for a hat-trick of Olympic medals in Paris, came up with a superb performance in 25m sports pistol, to finish second in qualification and book a place in the final here on Friday.
The 22-year-old shooter, who already has two bronze medals in her kitty in 10m women’s air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team along with Sarabjot Singh, shot an amazing 294 in the ‘precision’ round and was even more menacing in the rapid round to score 296 and aggregating 590.
She is just two points behind leader Veronika Major of Hungary, who shot an aggregate of 592 (294 and 298) which helped her equal the Olympic record. Esha Singh finished 18th in Qualification with 581 points, thus missing out on Final spot.
India has won all three medals so far in shooting, with Manu bagging two and Swapnil Kusale taking the bronze in 50m rifle three-positions on Thursday.