Tokyo, Aug 2 (IANS): Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan took to Twitter to congratulate the Indian women's team hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne on the country's historic win over Australia at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
The team, led by Rani Rampal defeated Australia 1-0 in the quarterfinal in Tokyo to advance to the semifinals for the first time in the Olympic Games.
A powerful drag-flick from Gurjit Kaur off a penalty corner in the 22nd minute sealed Australia's defeat.
The goal gave India the lead in the match, which they maintained till the end. Despite earning seven penalty corners, Australia, the three-time Olympic Games gold-medal winners, were unable to score a goal and made a shock exit from the competition.
Marijne, the women's team coach, posted a group selfie with his team. "Sorry family, I'm coming again later (smiling face emoji and red heart)," he wrote on Twitter.
Shah Rukh, who portrayed the role of Kabir Khan, the coach of the Indian women's hockey team in the 2007 hit movie 'Chak De India', quoted Marijne's tweet and wrote, "Haan haan no problem. Just bring some Gold on your way back….for a billion family members. This time Dhanteras is also on 2nd Nov. From: Ex-coach Kabir Khan."
Marijne came up with an intelligent response to Shah Rukh's tweet. "Thank you for all the support and love. We will give everything again. From: The Real Coach (winking emoji)," read his response.
India will face Argentina in the semifinal at the Oi Hockey Stadium on Wednesday. This will be India's first-ever semifinal at the Olympics. Even if they end up on the losing side, they will be able to compete in the bronze-medal match.