Paris: The story of revival that began in Tokyo came full circle in Paris as the Indian hockey team claimed a second successive Olympic bronze medal for the first time in over half a century, steered by the inspiring leadership of Harmanpreet Singh and fuelled by the passion of retiring custodian P R Sreejesh.
India defeated Spain 2-1 in an exciting third-place match with Harmanpreet striking twice with penalty corners (30th and 33rd minutes) after Spain took the early lead thanks to skipper Marc Miralles’ penalty stroke in the 18th minute.
Through the game and much like several other games in the past, Sreejesh stood like a rock in front of the goal, thwarting almost every attack that threatened India’s chances.
India, who claimed the bronze in Tokyo Games after a gap of 41 years, lived up to the expectations and in the process ensured that the long-serving Sreejesh, whose career spanned a remarkable 18 years, walked into the sunset a content man.
“Everyone is asking me, ‘why now?’. One piece of advice I got in my career is that when you retire people should not say ‘why not?’, they should ask you, ‘why?’. This is the right time to take that course,” the 36-year-old Kerala-man told reporters, the smile never leaving his face.
The last time India won back-to-back Olympic medals was in 1968 (bronze) and 1972 editions (bronze).
Today’s medal was also a massive fillip to the entire contingent, which has been dealing with the heartbreak of six fourth-place finishes so far, apart from the shocking disqualification of wrestler Vinesh Phogat for being overweight on the morning of her final bout.
“Our dream was to win a gold medal here, and everyone was trusting us. I would like to say sorry because we could have done it (win gold medal), we have missed out on it very closely but this medal is everything for us,” said a jubilant Harmanpreet.
Both Sreejesh and Harmanpreet are among 11 players in the 16-strong squad, who will return to India as two-time Olympic medallists.
Spain took early lead: Shrugging off their heart-wrenching 2-3 defeat to Germany in the semifinal, India came out all guns blazing to dominate possession in the first quarter.
It was an offensive start from India as they penetrated Spain’s defence regularly in the first 15 minutes and created the first scoring chance of the match in the sixth minute.
Vice-captain Hardik Singh created a fine move from the right and passed the ball to Sukhjeet Singh, whose shot went just wide of the left side Spanish goal.
Spain walked in with more purpose and intensity in the second quarter and pressed hard on the Indian goal. They took the lead in the 18th minute through a penalty stroke conversion by Miralles after Manpreet Singh conceded an unnecessary foul inside the D.
Spain kept up the tempo and secured back-to-back penalty corners in the 20th minute but the Indians defended stoutly.
In the 28th minute, Spain secured another penalty corner after Borja Lacalle hit the post but it went in vain.
Still trailing, India pressed hard and secured their first penalty corner in the 29th minute but could not convert it.
Just 21 seconds before half time, Manpreet compensated for his fault by earning India another penalty corner and this time Harmanpreet was bang on target.
India got another penalty corner in the 35th minute but Harmanpreet’s fierce stroke was blocked by Spain goalkeeper Luis Calzado.
Mandeep Singh’s terrific run from the left flank resulted in another short corner but Spanish on-rusher Jordi Bonastre took a blow on his left knee to deny India.
Sreejesh then foiled an attempt from Spain as India kept the 2-1 lead till the end of third quarter.
Hardik had to be taken off the field five minutes after the fourth quarter when he collided with a rival player to suffer a hand injury.
This was after India yet again made a short corner save. It was Manpreet, who mistakenly landed the ball on Hardik’s foot.
However, Marc Recasens hit wide, much to the relief of the Indian camp.
Three minutes from the final hooter, Spain took off goalkeeper Calzado in a desperate attempt to find an equaliser but India made no mistake and defended well in the dying moments.
