Determined India repeat Tokyo feat, give Sreejesh a winning farewell with medal after gutsy 2-1 win against Spain
A roller-coaster fortnight in Paris ended at Yves du Manoir. It could all have gone wrong when the shot at gold was lost narrowly to Germany. Harmanpreet Singh’s boys were not ready to mope; they knew that bronze would mean much more than just a consolation prize. India had a hungry Spain blocking their way but it was clear from the start that they meant serious business.
The bronze medal win shows how well India has journeyed for the last few years and how good they are. Their number consists of ten players who stood on Tokyo’s podium. They knew what was necessary for them. And They also knew emotion management. They knew how to do it. This is one special team.
The Indians celebrated briefly then huddled together in unity arms locked around each other. Then they began the victory lap. Sreejesh, playing his last match, went up first as the team lifted him high into the air. The crowd went ecstatic when he did this. Furthermore, Sreejesh has been this team’s standout performer here along with skipper Harmanpreet Singh.
They had to wait until the second quarter of the game before opening scores with two goals within four minutes of each other, making it 2-0 for India.
India opened scoring in the second quarter just seconds before half time.
At 10 pm local time, as night fell over Paris on Wednesday July 16th, India repeated its result from Tokyo by winning another bronze medal at Hockey World League Semi-final tournament here tonight. The squad under coach Roelant Oltmans finished third after beating Spain 2-1in their third and fourth place play-off match at Stade Jean Bouin Stadium in Paris tonight
It went down to the wire. Could India hold on to their lead? Yes, they could. Spain kicked off the quarter with a PC but did not make it count. Then a long hit from their own half found an opposing forward standing unmarked near the goal post. He connected it but missed by inches.
After that, everything went wrong. Indian midfielder Hardik Singh was injured in the 49th minute and had to be helped out.
Sreejesh made two fantastic saves towards the end of the game. Spain got more PCs; India defended better. There was no panic. Just faith Perhaps When Spain blundered their ninth PC, there were only 44 seconds remaining on clock. Soon thereafter, hooter went.
One could hear loud joyous voices coming from across the passage as you walked past through Indian dressing room after leaving the stadium for good. The chorus wasn’t limit to them either . Although most of Indian media was absent when these men won bronze at Tokyo – 41 years later A hockey medal after a gap of 41 years – A pandemic reigned in every corner of world then Three years later; watching it live here gave me goosebumps Hockey medals have that special shine It will stick in your heart forever.
Dutch win gold in shootout
In another match, Netherlands defeated Germany 3-1 on penalties following a 1-1 draw at full time before Duco Telgenkamp scored his last penalty kick past Jean-Paul Danneberg in men’s hockey gold medal game
