Florian Fuchs, Germany’s livewire forward wasn’t quite in the mood to look ahead to the bronze medal match against India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. After all, Germany had lost 1-3 to Australia at the Oi Stadium on Tuesday and Fuchs could be excused for feeling downcast.

Florian Fuchs as he was playing in the Hockey India League

“It’s 10 mins after losing the semis, so currently am not really thinking about the bronze medal match,” the 29-year-old striker said. “Maybe I tomorrow morning after getting up, I will think about the bronze medal match with the focus and preparation that takes place,” he said.

“But, yes, it will be a nice match. The bronze medal match is important. We know that from Rio. There’s lot on the line.

“For now, we are disappointed and we need to process what happened this evening,” Fuchs, who plays for Dutch club Bloemendaal. Fuchs holds Indian players in high esteem. “They are skillful, speedy and playing in India was a great experience,” he said.

On his memories of match-ups against India, Fuchs recalls a couple in Bhubaneswar. “I remember one match with our goalkeeper playing as an outfield player (after the team was hit by a stomach bug before the HWL 2017 third-place match).

Asked about India reaching the Olympic semi-final after decades, Fuchs said, “India have been at the top for many years and have improved a lot in the last couple of years”.

“They have great players and good construction in defence, better than in the past. Reaching the semi-finals is a great achievement and I am happy for them,” he said.

But, with the disappointment of losing hard to tide over at the moment, Fuchs politely excused himself.

“To be honest , we lost the semi-final so I’m busy thinking about our performance…,” he said as he signed off.