"The goal is gold medal" – Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh aims for top prize at Paris Olympics
India’s hockey star Harmanpreet Singh has said that his team would try and win the gold medal in the upcoming Paris Olympics. India have won eight golds in the history of the mega event, but are yet to finish on top of the podium since the Moscow Olympics back in 1980.
In 2021, after winning bronze, India ended their 41-year-long wait of winning a hockey medal in the Olympics. They defeated Germany 5-4 in a thrilling match and won their third bronze in the Olympics after 1968 (Mexico City and 1972 (Munich).
Before the Paris Olympics, India will tour Australia for a 5-match series in Perth from April 2 to 15.
“If we look at the performance of the team it is a good sign, we aren’t overconfident but we are fighting against all the top sides. The confidence of the team is on a high,” Harmanpreet told PTI.
“The goal is gold medal, there is no second thoughts about it. No more target,” he said.
"Our performance has been good" - Captain Harmanpreet Singh hails India's performance in FIH Pro League
Last year, India won the Asian Champions Trophy after which they won gold in the Hangzhou Asian Games. Most importantly, India qualified directly for the Paris Olympics.
Apart from that, India also put in a strong showing in the FIH Pro League where they are placed third with 15 points from eight matches.
“It was a positive campaign. All matches in Pro League are tough, you get to play against the best teams of the world. Our performance has been good. If you talk about our matches against Australia and Netherlands, we played really well,” Harmanpreet said.
“We learnt a lot, the team has improved a lot. We gained in confidence. Overall it was a good performance,” he said.
Harmanpreet also talked about the improvements that the Indian players need to bring to their A game before heading to Paris.
“There are only two areas of improvement. How you defend in your ‘D’ and how you attack. We have to keep in mind that we can’t be successful every time,” Harmanpreet added.