"Support Us In Our Bad Times Too": India Hockey Captain Harmanpreet Singh On NDTV After Olympic Heroics

Hockey's emotional connection with India and its sports lovers is such that it would not be off the mark to call it the 'most beloved sport' in the country. For years, India's dominance in hockey at the global level saw millions getting hooked on it. Then, there came a lean period, a dark phase when all seemed lost. A team that had once won eight gold medals at the Olympics, could not even qualify for the quadrennial extravaganza in the 2008 edition. But Indian hockey is past that phase, and the Paris Olympics 2024 was a strong example of it. 

The Indian hockey team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, achieved a historic first in 52 years at the Paris Games as it won the bronze medal defeating Spain. This was the first time since the 1972 Olympics that India won medals at the Games in back-to-back editions. At the Tokyo 2020 Games, India had ended a long medal drought in hockey by bringing home the bronze. 

Some members of the bronze medal-winning side are already back in India from the French Capital. In a special interaction with NDTV on Saturday, Harmanpreet, Manpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Gurjant Singh delved deep into their campaign and the road ahead.

"It was a great experience in Paris. We had gone there with the aim of winning the gold medal. We had great support from the countrymen. In a big tournament anything can happen. Specifically if I speak, the win against Australia, the win against Great Britain despite playing with 10 men for most of the match was truly great. We won back-to-back medals and it was a big achievement," Harmanpreet said. 

The young Vivek Sagar Prasad, 24, played a pivotal role in the win. "It's all about team spirit. It's important to have no divide between seniors and juniors.