Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Indian men’s hockey team returned from the Paris Olympics campaign filled with new records, with a bronze medal on August 10. The 16-member squad, which boasted 11 members from the bronze-winning team in the Tokyo Olympics, created history by winning back-to-back medals for the first time since the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Upon arrival the hockey team members were given a rousing welcome by family and hordes of fans, Harmanpreet Singh failed to contain his emotions, “It is very heart-warming to see Indian fans come out to receive and congratulate us for the Bronze medal at Paris 2024 Olympics. The Team left no stone unturned to prepare for the Olympics and to see your efforts bear fruit, to see the whole country rejoice in our victory, is an inexplicable feeling,” he said.
The Paris Olympics saw the Indian team play scintillating hockey at times; performances that saw them defeat Australia by 3-2, for the first time after 52 years in the Olympics. They pulled out another rabbit from the hat in the quarter-finals, an unreal performance by every single member of the team against Great Britain, where they defended with a man down for over 40 minutes to force penalty shootouts and win by 4-2, courtesy of heroics from PR Sreejesh.
Vice- captain Hardik Singh highlighted the camaraderie in the squad saying,” The trust we had in each other, the unshakeable belief that a teammate will step right up to cover up if you miss a step, is what pushed us to always give our best on the field. I think the match against Great Britain was when it really shined through. The midfielders had the forwards’ back, the defenders supported the midfielders, and if all else failed we had the big man, PR Sreejesh, between the sticks who bailed us out on numerous occasions.”
Legendary goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh announced that he would retire before heading to Paris. Vowing to ‘Win it for Sreejesh’, the Indian team made it all the way to the bronze medal match against Spain. Harmanpreet Singh, the top scorer of the Paris 2024 Olympics with 10 goals, netted a brace to seal their victory in the do-or-die match.
