New Delhi: The Indian men’s hockey team returned from the Paris Olympics campaign filled with new records, with a bronze medal on Saturday. The 16-member squad, which boasted 11 members from the bronze-winning team in the Tokyo Olympics, created history by winning back-to-back medals for the first time since the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Greeted upon arrival by family and hordes of fans, Harmanpreet Singh failed to contain his emotions, “It is very heart-warming to see Indian fans come out to receive and congratulate us for the Bronze medal at Paris 2024 Olympics. The Team left no stone unturned to prepare for the Olympics and to see your efforts bear fruit, to see the whole country rejoice in our victory, is an inexplicable feeling,” he said.
The Paris 2024 Olympics saw the Indian team play scintillating hockey at times; performances that saw them defeat Australia by 3-2, for the first time after 52 years in the Olympics. They pulled out another rabbit from the hat in the quarter-finals, an unreal performance by every single member of the team against Great Britain, where they defended with a man down for over 40 minutes to force penalty shootouts and win by 4-2, courtesy of heroics from PR Sreejesh.
