“Mindset of the team was to play in the finals” - Manpreet Singh says Indian hockey team happy with bronze despite missing out on gold in Paris 2024
Veteran hockey midfielder Manpreet Singh said that the Indian men’s hockey team aimed to play in the finals at the Paris 2024 Olympics but are happy that they have won a second consecutive bronze medal at the quadrennial tournament.
After ending the country’s 41-year Olympic trophy drought in hockey with a bronze medal win in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the Indian men’s national team had a third-place in Paris after they beat Spain by 2-1.
Speaking to PTI, the four-time Olympian said:
“Feeling really good, last time [Tokyo 2020] we won the bronze, and we won bronze this time as well; the mindset of the team was to play in the finals, but that slipped out of our grasp, but we won the bronze and feel really good receiving all this love.”
“We train for these kind of moments” - Manpreet Singh on playing with 10 men against Great Britain in Paris 2024 Olympics
India had a fantastic run in this year’s Summer Olympic Games, with the Men in Blues causing major upsets by beating heavyweights such as Australia and Great Britain. The match against the latter was particularly intense one, as India had to defend with 10 men for the majority of the match after Amit Rohidas was given a red card.
However, Manpreet Singh said that the Indian team had trained for scenarios where they would be a man down, and it helped them in the match against Britain.
“We train for these kind of moments, if someone gets a green card or a yellow card, how to defend, but we did not think that we would get the red card, it was not the fault of Amit Rohidas,” Manpreet Singh said.
“But unfortunately, he got the red card, the defensive mindset of the team was good, and the way everyone defended was brilliant. We did not allow them to create easy opportunities, they took penalty corners and we defended those as well,” he added.
Despite defending with 10 men for close to 42 minutes, India held on to the 1-1 scoreline till the final whistle. During the ensuing shootout, veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh pulled out a heroic performance to take India over the line.
32-year-old Manpreet has been one of the longest-serving servants in the national hockey team. Since making his debut as a 19-year-old in 2011, the midfielder from Jalandhar has played 370 games for India.
However, despite being at the twilight of his career, Manpreet Singh has no immediate plans of retiring.
“That is far away from us now, I will concentrate on my fitness, if everything goes well I will continue till 2028, if not let us see,” he told PTI.