Harmanpreet Singh, who is the captain of the Indian men's hockey team revealed the mindset to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that helped them to defeat Great Britain in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics 2024. It should be noted here that the Indian team was one match short in the last three quarters as defender Amit Rohidas got a red card as his hockey stick was being held in an unnatural position, which had stuck Will Calnan on the head.
Due to this reason, the team had just 10 players and despite that showed resilience and took the score to a tie at 1-1 at full time. The Harmanpreet Singh-led side went on to win the match in the penalty shootout 4-2 and left everyone stunned.
Talking about the match to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hosted the Indian contingent at his residence on Thursday, Harmampreet revealed that it was hard to bounce back after getting the red card. But despite all the challenges, the team stuck to their plans and believed in themselves.
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“Yes sir, it was difficult because one of the players got a red card in the first quarter itself. But, I think our coaching staff helped us a lot. We used to visualize every situation because in the Olympics anything can happen surprisingly. We had the mindset to stick to our plans irrespective of the situation. The entire team was charged up because we have had intense matches with Great Britain", Harmanpreet Singh told PM Modi.
PM Modi also made a joke about the hockey rivalry between India and Great Britain and to this the Indian skipper said that they continued the tradition. He also admitted that they were relieved after defeating Australia at the quadrennial event after 52 years.
The other great achievement for us was winning against Australia: Harmanpreet Singh
“We were just continuing the tradition and we had full belief that we would win the game. It was a 1-1 draw and we won in the shootout because something like that had never happened in the Olympics. The other great achievement for us was winning against Australia after 52 years,” he concluded.
It should be noted here that India defeated Australia in their last group stage match by 3-2 for the first time since the 1972 Munich Olympics. Skipper Harmanpreet scored two goals himself. He also played a huge role in their bronze medal match against Spain, where he scored two goals for the team. Eventually, India defeated Spain by 2-1 and clinched their second successive bronze medal at the quadrennial event.