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Hockey, itself is a physically and mentally debilitating game, maybe commands more of those in central midfield. The fundamental assumption is to have the option to connect defense with the attack, and secure the ball, and hold possession for your side however much as could reasonably be expected.
Any capacity to perform further undertakings – speed up into space, get through resistance defenses with precise passes, get the team out of close defensive zones, and coordinate with your team and impart all circumstances to them – is a reward.
In many regards, Manpreet Singh is the heartbeat of the Indian team. On the pitch, he may be five feet and seven inches, but his speed, physicality, relentless energy, and heart are to watch out for. We were delighted and grateful to host the Indian men’s Hockey captain at the International Institute of Sports Management campus.
And you would anticipate that ‘Korean’ should be in the focal point of everything, managing everything in the centre, willed on by the goal of deleting more and more laurels to the nation.
“The name has come from my village because when I was a kid I was really short, sharp and quick so my seniors said that you are very quick and you look like a Korean so from now we are just going to call you Korean and that name was carried out with me in the academy,” said Manpreet on asking why is he knows as Korean.
“When I joined the national team during that time also someone came and said ‘guys why are you calling him Manpreet call him Korean’ and since then everybody started calling me Korean,” he added.
The Indian hockey team was going through a camp at the Sports Authority of India center in Bengaluru under a severe bio-bubble climate. Ordinary Covid-19 tests were directed for every player and there were severe limitations on them moving around.
With pandemic-initiated lockdowns unleashing havoc all over the place, the Indian hockey team hadn’t got as much match practice as they would have wanted to. Nonetheless, Team India was still energetic.
“It was a difficult period for us because when the lockdown got announced we were in Bengaluru and we didn’t know if the Olympics will take place or not so that time we were thinking about how would we get the team back together so how are we gonna put everyone’s mindset in a positive way was difficult but we worked very well,” said the 29-year-old
“I think it was a good time for us to know about each other and how they struggled and how their families struggled for them to reach this level. So, we learned so many things about each other and we learned how the previous Olympians struggled in the Olympics and what were the things they tried to avoid and what distractions we could face in this Olympics. We worked on those things and that was the key to success,” he added.
The Tokyo Olympics 2020 was the first summer games in which Manpreet Singh drove the men’s hockey team. However, this was his third Olympic appearance in general.
The Indian men’s hockey team scripted a story for a long time as they dug out from a deficit to beat Germany 5-4 in a goal fest to win the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
The fortunes in the match swung like a pendulum yet in the end it was India who figured out how to end their 41-year-old drought for an Olympic medal.
India were abruptly up by two goals and the momentum was in their ally. That goal indeed ended up being the distinction eventually, particularly after Lukas Windfeder’s 48th-minute strike brought the game shut down at 5-4. In any case, the Indian players gave it their everything, defending the last 12 minutes of the match with their lives to seal a podium finish.
“I cannot describe that feeling because when we were standing there and I was looking at the flag on the right side and I told one of my friends Hardik was by my side and I told him 41 years. 41 years to reach this level and the flag is finally now raising up, but we are not gonna stop here. We want this flag to be in the centre and raising more higher,” said the Indian captain.
India won an Olympic medal in hockey. The day in ‘bronze’ at last showed up on August 5, 2021, after that gold medal in 1980. In between, India had stalled out with no medals across nine Olympics.
However, the Indian men’s team believed that they could, and they did. Doesn’t actually matter that it’s bronze and not gold. It’s a colossal advance forward for Indian hockey. After this isn’t only a medal, a feeling will revive love and enthusiasm for the game which was once the country’s starlets.
“I wouldn’t say that just keep playing hockey because I am a hockey player I would just say that choose any sport because right now the sport is gaining popularity, the government is supporting sports and just choose any sport that can give you more motivation and you can reach this level and you also can win the Olympics, but for that, you have to work hard and set an aim for what you want to achieve in life,” said Manpreet Singh.
In the place where there is the rising sun, Indian hockey has moved from dimness to light with an Olympic bronze that has the glint of gold. No medal for a very long time in that one game that they had so predominantly ruled once, India at last defined a boundary from the past to the present.
Tokyo could be the start of a vision, instead of a destination.
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