The Indian hockey team did the same feat in Paris Olympics 2024 as they did 3 years ago in Tokyo. Team India won the match against Spain 2-1 on Thursday, 8 August and with this won the bronze medal of Paris Olympics. In this way, the Indian team also proved that the success of Tokyo was not a fluke, but this team really deserved both these medals. Obviously, Team India had worked hard for this success and even after winning these medals, there was a bit of disappointment because they could have won gold as well. These claims are not being made as an Indian fan, but defender Germanpreet Singh, who played a special role in getting this success to Team India, himself told TV9 Bharatvarsh.

India won a hockey medal after 41 years in the Tokyo Olympics and this time the country was hoping to repeat the same success. However, given the tough group Team India got, its chances of reaching the quarter-finals or semi-finals were also being considered low. But perhaps the team does not care about what the fans and experts think because they entered this with the intention of winning gold and performed the same throughout the tournament.

Why was the team sad even after winning bronze?

Every player contributed to Team India's success, including defender Germanpreet Singh. India's defense was strong in this Olympics and this was the reason why it defeated Australia and Britain as well. Germanpreet, who was a part of the team's defense, told TV9 in an exclusive conversation that the entire team is enjoying this success and he is especially lucky because he got a chance to win a bronze medal in his very first Olympic Games.

The team and the entire country were very happy after winning the bronze medal but Germanpreet also said that when he reached the podium to receive the medal, apart from being emotional, he was also a little sad. He said that this sadness was due to not being able to win the gold medal because the entire team had come this time with the intention of winning only gold and was fully prepared for it. Along with this, he also made his intentions clear that the team is not satisfied with this success and will get peace only after winning the gold medal.

"We will get hurt but we will not give up now"

The discussion of this campaign of Team India is incomplete without the discussion of legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. Like the whole country, Team India also considers him as their wall. The team had this confidence even on the day when only 10 players were left in the quarter-final match against Great Britain. Germanpreet told that after the red card given to Amit Rohidas, the whole team became even more positive and decided that now they will not lose under any circumstances, no matter how many injuries they get. He told that as soon as the full time came and the matter reached the penalty shoot-out, everyone was sure of victory because Sreejesh was in front and this is what happened.

'The whole country is happy, so we are also happy'

The star defender said that the whole team had worked very hard for this success and had made many sacrifices because due to the training camp, they had to stay away from their families for a long time but everyone was ready for it. He also told that as soon as the training started after reaching Paris, everyone switched off their phones and switched them on again only after winning the bronze medal. Germanpreet said that he is also happy that the whole country looked happier with this medal and he is just waiting to return to the country, where he expressed hope of a good welcome from the fans.