Paris, August 7
After their heart-break 2-3 loss against reigning World Champions Germany in a thrilling semi-final that went down to the wire, the Indian Men's Hockey Team will shift their focus on Spain against whom they will play for the Bronze medal at the ongoing Paris Olympics.
Spain, meanwhile, had lost to the Netherlands 0-4 in the Semi-Final on Tuesday after they registered a mega upset win against Belgium in the Quarter-Final match.
"We are extremely disappointed that our dream of playing in the Olympic Games Final has not been realized. The team gave their absolute best, and I am proud of how we played. At no point did we give up; we fought valiantly until the last second," skipper Harmanpreet Singh was quoted in a release from Hockey India.
In the match against Germany, Harmanpreet earned India the lead with his 7th-minute goal after which Germany equalised in the 18th minute through Gonzalo Peillat. Ranked second in the world, Germany took lead in the 27th minute through Christopher Ruehr. A fighting India equalised in the 36th minute through a brilliant PC variation, with Sukhjeet Singh getting the perfect deflection. Unfortunately for India, Marco Miltkau worked an insatiable goal in the 54th minute to find the lead and the Germans defended it with all their might.
The disappointment of not being able to 'change the colour of the medal' - a desire the team eloquently spoke of since they returned with a Bronze from the Tokyo Olympics - was evident.
"It won't be easy to forget this loss. We came really close and it was everyone's dream to change the colour of the medal this time. But now, we shift our focus to the Bronze medal game. We have another chance at creating history by winning back-to-back medals," Harmanpreet added.
Speaking about a worthy opponent in Spain, against whom India has won four times and lost a game in the last five encounters together, Vice Captain Hardik Singh said, "They are a very good opponent and surely riding on good confidence from their victory against Belgium in the quarterfinal. They are familiar opponents for us and we look forward to returning home with a medal on our neck."