Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium: India midfielder Manpreet Singh said the team remained focused on its goal despite criticism surrounding its campaign as the defending champions retained their Asian Games hockey gold with a commanding 5-1 win over Malaysia in the final here on Saturday.
The victory at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium not only gave India their first-ever successful defence of the men’s hockey gold at the Asian Games but also secured a direct qualification berth for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
“Actually, there are many things that happen outside the box. Criticism keeps going on, but our focus was not on that. We had come here to achieve something, and we achieved that today,” Manpreet told IANS after the final.
The Indian team had faced scrutiny ahead of the Asian Games but produced a dominant campaign, winning all five of their group-stage matches before edging past Pakistan 4-3 in a dramatic semifinal.
Manpreet said the Asian Games gold and direct Olympic qualification would now allow India to focus on improving specific areas of their game instead of having to go through the qualification route for LA 2028.
“The Asian Games was a very important tournament for us because from here we have directly qualified for LA. We don’t have to play the qualifier round now, so we can work on ourselves, identify the areas where we need to improve and see how we can go to LA better prepared,” he said.
Reflecting on the final, Manpreet credited India’s defence for keeping Malaysia under control while also making the most of their opportunities in attack. “From the start to the end, our defence was very good. Whenever we got chances, whether through penalty corners or field goals, we converted them,” he said.
India captain Harmanpreet Singh opened the scoring in the 11th minute through a penalty corner, but Malaysia equalised through Shello Silverius before Jugraj Singh restored India’s lead in the 23rd minute.
Hardik Singh then converted a penalty stroke in the third quarter to make it 3-1 before Shilanand Lakra extended India’s advantage in the 54th minute. Harmanpreet completed his brace through another penalty-corner conversion as India sealed a 5-1 victory.
Manpreet also reflected on India’s semifinal against Pakistan and said the team had to keep emotions under control against their traditional rivals. “Against Pakistan, it is always about playing them like we play any other team. If we bring too many emotions into it, we can make more mistakes. Our focus was on the game plan and the structure we were given and where we could punish them,” he said.
Meanwhile, forward Dilpreet Singh said the gold medal was the result of the team’s sustained hard work and long-term preparation, with direct qualification for LA also one of their primary objectives. “Our whole team is very happy because we have been training for this for a long time and have worked very hard. Our aim was to win gold and confirm our qualification for LA,” Dilpreet told IANS.
He said the team had learnt from the narrow semifinal win over Pakistan and entered the final determined to produce a more convincing performance.
Meanwhile, forward Dilpreet Singh said the gold medal was the result of the team’s sustained hard work and long-term preparation, with direct qualification for LA also one of their primary objectives. “Our whole team is very happy because we have been training for this for a long time and have worked very hard. Our aim was to win gold and confirm our qualification for LA,” Dilpreet told IANS.
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Article Source: IANS