“I would rate this team's performance better than gold” - Ex-captain Baskaran praises Indian men’s hockey team’s performance at Paris 2024 Olympics
Former Indian men’s hockey team captain Vasudevan Baskaran heaped praise on the performance of the Men in Blues in the recently concluded Paris 2024 Olympics, claiming that the team’s bronze medal-winning stint was better than winning the gold medal.
The Indian men’s hockey team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, won a second-consecutive bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, defeating Spain by 2-1 in the bronze medal playoff match. Interestingly, Baskaran was the captain of the Indian team when they last won a gold medal in hockey, in the Moscow 1980 Olympics.
Speaking to reporters from PTI at the Madras Week event on Thursday, Baskaran said:
“This is the best performance. We might have missed out on silver or gold, but it happens. India played the best hockey. I would rate this team's performance better than gold. If there is a platinum medal, the team deserves it. India did well right from the opening game and played consistent hockey.”
Baskaran, who is a recipient of the prestigious Arjuna Award and currently works as a hockey coach in Tamil Nadu, also reserved praise for the coaching staff as well as head coach Craig Fulton for preparing the team for every scenario that may arise during the course of the tournament.
He specifically pointed out the match against Great Britain, where India had to defend most of the game with 10 men after the sending off of Amit Rohidas.
“We even played a match [against Great Britain] with 10 players. So, we should definitely give credit to the team and the management for tackling everything perfectly. He [Fulton] has been successfully commanding the boys for the last two years. His defensive system has been good. It looks more like an attack,” Baskaran said.
“But, more than the coach, the boys deserve the credit. The coach chalks out the plan, while the execution has to be done by the players,” he added.
“We should think about the future” – Baskaran on replacing legendary Indian men’s hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh
After the jubilant victory in the Paris Games, the Indian men’s hockey team will have to rebuild without one of their most important players – their starting goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. The 36-year-old goalkeeper pulled down the curtain on his national team career, and India will now look to find a new number one before the start of the 2026 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup.
However, Baskaran was quite confident that India will be able to successfully replace their legendary goalkeeper, saying:
“It's futile to ponder over retirement in sports, but we should think about the future. We should think how to nurture them [young players], as no one is unbeatable in sports. There are quite a few [goalkeepers] lined up, and their focus should be the World Cup in 2026. Everything will change after this World Cup because expectations will be high from this team.”
Other than PR Sreejesh, the Indian men’s hockey team also included 27-year-old Krishan Pathak and 28-year-old Suraj Karkera in their Paris 2024 Olympics squad. While Krishan had 125 national team caps so far, Suraj played 43 times for India.
However, Baskaran warned of the potential challenges of rebuilding a squad, especially one as successful as this Indian men’s hockey team has been, from scratch.
“Regardless of whether Sreejesh or Harmanpreet is there or not, the Indian team has to continue playing, and we need to process it in a big way, which does take time in hockey. There will be lots of ups and downs in the next year to prepare an Indian team. We need to come up with something good for the next four years,” he said.