The Indian hockey team recently visited the Golden Temple after winning the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. The side, led by Harmanpreet Singh, finished on the podium after beating Spain in a thrilling third-place playoff match.
The players went to the holy site and offered their prayers following their stupendous run in Paris. Apart from winning bronze, India also ended their 52-year-long wait of bagging back-to-back medals in hockey at the Olympics.
The last time they achieved the feat was in Munich 1972. India, however, has yet to get their hands on the coveted gold medal since Moscow 1980.
Harmanpreet Singh stars as India hockey team triumph in Paris Olympics
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh played a critical role as he led from the front with 10 goals from eight matches. In the final against Spain, India went 0-1 down and found themselves in all sorts of trouble. But Harmanpreet took them to a 2-1 lead after which India never looked back.
India went into the match after losing to Germany in the semis and made an incredible comeback. Their quarterfinal clash against Great Britain also turned out to be a thriller as India won the penalty shootout 4-2. India also got the better of Australia, who defeated them badly in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
PR Sreejesh also called time on his international career on a positive note. He made some crucial saves in crunch moments, helping India have the last laugh.
Back at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, India won bronze, their first medal in hockey in 41 years. At the time, India’s Amit Rohidas was also banned from the semi-final after getting a red card against Great Britain. But India recovered from the jolt to eventually win a medal.
Sreejesh is now set to start a new innings as the coach of the Indian junior team.