By MERVYN FERNANDIS, Triple Olympian

Every athlete has a dream to represent their country at the Olympics which comes once in four years. Considering the standards set at that level, qualifying is in itself an achievement. Finishing on the podium gives great satisfaction, due to the realisation that one has achieved another level.

Winning the gold medal is the ultimate!

Goalkeeper P Sreejesh and midfielder Manpreet Singh, playing their third Olympic Games, will be delighted to be part of the Indian hockey team which won a bronze medal. Manpreet and the boys held their nerves during the last few minutes against Germany. The nerve-wracking 5-4 victory will be remembered for a long time to come.

Watching the team on the podium brought back memories of our podium finish in 1980 at Moscow. It is the most cherished moment in a sports person’s life. There was a sense of relief for all hockey lovers and past players. All those who forever questioned the squad’s ability to win a medal were silenced.

Mervyn Fernandis

The Tokyo 2020 bronze brought back the smiles on faces of millions of well-wishers and some choked emotions. If I can recall correctly, The Netherlands or Germany finished with a medal at every Olympic Games since 1984. This will be the first time after nearly three decades they have been deprived of a podium finish.

India gave a fantastic account of themselves in all matches, barring Australia and the last quarter against Belgium. Teams which suffered at India’s hands were Olympic champion Argentina, former champion Great Britain, Asian Games gold medallist, Japan, Germany, Spain and New Zealand.

The physical fitness and mental strength of this team was at its very best , or else those incredible comebacks from a 1 – 7 defeat in the league against Australia, or when trailing 0 – 2 in the bronze medal tie was not possible. Ten debutants did full justice to the faith their coach Graham Reid showed in them.

I had mentioned before this team’s departure for Tokyo about the luxury of possessing three drag flickers in Rupinderpal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Varun Kumar. These three never let us down by converting nearly 30 percent of the penalty corners forced. It turned out to be one of the reasons for their success.

How could one not notice the suicidal rushing out by daredevils Amit Rohidas Manpreet and Surender in every short corner. Rushing towards those drag flicks coming at them at a fearsome pace was sensational. The defending was well designed by blocking the left side constantly and making life a bit easier for goalkeeper Sreejesh.

Indian team won the hearts of the country with a stellar show at Tokyo

It reminds us of goalkeeper Adrian D’souza, adopting brave tactics against the then Pakistani and world’s best short corner specialist, Sohail Abbas, at Athens 2004. No guts, no glory. Another line I remember is Do or Die… modified nowadays to Do It Before You Die.

It would not be right to single out names among the debutants who stood out, in my opinion Simranjeet Singh, Hardik Singh were exceptional. Imagine he was not among the first 16 names announced prior to the team’s departure. He then comes out on the pitch when given an opportunity, absorbs the pressure and makes his presence felt right away. A field goal on debut match at the Olympics, he ended up
scoring three goals overall and was instrumental in some of the assists too.

Having played on the big stage, I have experienced that the man-to-man marking in these big matches is quite frustrating. Simranjeet’s ability to receive the ball in the D, though tightly marked and score in a flash after hoodwinking the defenders proved that he is made of champion stuff. After all, it’s the half chances converted which can change a team’s fortunes.

Manpreet no doubt held the team together and was the main architect of many moves. He was ably supported by Neelkanta Sharma, Sumeet, Vivek Sagar and Hardik. The latter is my second star player because of his super stick skills, speed and endurance. The third solo field goal against Great Britain warmed the hearts of so many of us former India players.

Picking the ball from the midfield during a very tense moment of the match, dodging past at least two defenders with deft stick skills and scoring of his own rebound was nothing short of magic. Hardik was also involved in the fifth goal against Germany, the culmination of a mesmerising combined move involving Simranjeet, Gujrant Singh and Simranjeet.

Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh at Tokyo

Sreejesh brought in all his experience to bring about innumerable brilliant saves, and kept the team always in the game. For a goalkeeper playing in his third Olympic Games, his reflexes and reaction time seemed to have gotten better. He has proved time and again how indispensable he has been to the team. To me, Sreejesh was the ‘Rockstar’. I would like to see the hockey administration utilise his experience to guide and coach the young goalkeepers and avoid the likely void likely to happen in his absence.

India’s gold medal in hockey at Tokyo Olympics 1964 (when the Games was held last time here) saw another goalkeeper, Shankar Lakshman emerge a hero in the final against Pakistan. Sreejesh displayed his senior’s spirit, courage and reflexes and gave us thrilling moments to savour. I am sure the late Shankar Lakshman would have showered blessings on a fellow goalkeeper and his team. Let us enjoy this bronze breakthrough for now. I am confident that this medal at Tokyo will see the resurgence of Indian hockey.

Photos: K. Arumugam