First Olympic medal in hockey after 40 years, check. Back to back Olympic medals in hockey after 50 years, check. What’s next for captain Harmanpreet Singh?
“Ab medal ka colour badalna hai jee. We played really well in the entire tournament, and really fought in every match. Even the semis was a close match, we deserved the Gold medal, but we lost that match narrowly, but that’s alright. A medal, after all, is a medal,” says the 28-year old, who believes that Indian hockey is in a good place and believes, the glory days will be back once again.
“Now you see people discussing the sport, the achievements and celebrate it as well. It obviously feels nice when people do that because it means that people have an interest. That is why you now see that the Indian hockey team is not just there to participate but win the medals as well. Things have improved remarkably,” says Harmanpreet Singh, who is fondly being called ‘Sarpanch sahab’, ever since it was first used by the Hindi commentator Sunil Taneja during the recently concluded Paris Olympics.
“These days, people either call me Harmanpreet or Sarpanch sahab. It’s a mix of both (laughs). Of course it feels nice. The name has come from hockey, so I am really very proud about that,” says Singh
While he refused to compare the two bronze medal wins, the win at Paris Olympics was perhaps sweeter, as his one-year-old daughter, Ruhanat, was in the stands to witness her father lead the team from front.
“She doesn’t understand hockey much, but my wife was telling me that she has started picking up the stick and hitting the ball. So that’s nice. Plus she was there with me throughout the event, and to be able to take her to the stadium and pose along with the medal, was something really special and will be a memory I will cherish forever,” he signs off.