“We would be going to the LA 2028 Olympics to change the color of our medal to gold” - Jarmanpreet Singh after a bronze at Paris Olympics 2024
Indian men's hockey team defender Jarmanpreet Singh has expressed confidence that the team will head into the Los Angeles Olympics 2028, aiming for a gold medal, courtesy of Craig Fulton’s arrival as the national team’s head coach.
He went on to emphasize that Fulton’s arrival brought a change in the team’s gameplay. After bagging the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024, the men's hockey team arrived at the New Delhi airport on Saturday morning (August 10).
Craig Fulton joined the Indian national team as head coach in March 2023, and since then, he has assisted the team in various ways by providing information about the playing styles of the opposition teams. Jarmanpreet also added that the team always wanted to win the gold.
"We wanted to win the gold, but whatever had to happen, happened, as per god's wishes. After the arrival of a new coach, we have been doing great and brought about change in our hockey. You must have watched his interviews, heard about his thinking," Jarmanpreet Singh told ANI.
“He gives us information about other teams and their players, which helps us a lot. We would be going to the LA 2028 Olympics to change the color of our medal to gold. This is our plan always,” he added.
“We have been getting a lot of love from our country” - Indian hockey team midfielder Rajkumar Pal
Another important member of India's bronze medal-winning team, midfielder Rajkumar Pal stated that the Indian team received a lot of love from the wellwishers from the nation and stressed the importance of the central government’s support.
"We have been getting a lot of love from our country. We had won the bronze at Tokyo and wanted to change the colour of our medal. We played well in the final and lost to Germany. It was not our day. The Indian government has supported us a lot. We expected to win the gold though. In the next Olympics, we would like to win the gold for our country. Our game has improved, we have confidence and belief that we can beat any team," Rajkumar told ANI.
In the bronze-medal match, captain Harmanpreet Singh and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh played an exceptional role against Spain to take the side to a 2-1 win to bag the bronze medal. Notably, Sreejesh was playing his final international game.
It's worth noting that Team India won consecutive bronze medals in hockey for the first time in 52 years since the Munich Games in 1972.