Exclusive | Young generation is seeing India win Olympic medal in hockey, it's good for the sport: Manpreet Singh

Over half of India’s population is estimated to be under-30 which means they had never seen the national hockey team win an Olympic medal before 2021 even though the country has won eight golds at Summer Games. The drought was broken three years back in 2021 and earlier this month in Paris, the Indian men’s hockey team won back-to-back Olympic medals for the first time since 1972.

The bronze medal win at the Paris 2024 Olympics was made sweeter by the fact that it was the perfect farewell gift for legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who bid goodbye to the sport as a two-time Olympics medal winner.

Read: How Indian men’s hockey players’ earnings could rise 30% post-Olympic triumph

One of the key figures in the latest bronze medal win was Manpreet Singh, a former captain under whose guidance India broke the 41-year drought in Tokyo.

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Firstpost caught up with the 32-year-old midfielder as he discussed the importance of winning consecutive Olympic medals, its significance, India’s demoralising semi-final defeat to Germany, and the comeback to win bronze, giving PR Sreejesh a perfect farewell.

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He also dissected coach Craig Fulton’s defence-first strategy, focus on mental toughness and lessons for the Indian men’s hockey team from the Paris Olympics.

Excerpts:

We read so much about the Olympic medal drought in hockey. This was broken in Tokyo and now we have a second medal. What’s the meaning of winning back-to-back Olympic medals?

Manpreet: As an athlete, it’s a big thing to win back-to-back medals in the Olympics. People were wondering if we could win a second medal after the Tokyo victory but our mindset before going to Paris was very strong. Everyone in India is talking about hockey now that we have won two medals back-to-back. It feels good and also our rich history of winning multiple medals in the past is sort of coming back. We get a lot of confidence from winning back-to-back medals. It’s also great for future generations. They had heard a lot about the medals we had won in the Olympics, now they can see us win. I am 1992 born. I had heard so much but had never seen India win an Olympic medal in hockey. Now this generation is able to see it and this is very good for hockey.

Before the Paris Olympics, skipper Harmanpreet Singh said that the team aimed to change the colour of the medal. I want to talk about the 3-2 semi-final defeat to Germany. How crushing was the loss and can you talk about how the comeback for winning the bronze medal was made possible?

Manpreet: The confidence level in the team was very high after beating Great Britain in the quarter-finals because in hockey it’s very difficult to play with one less player. It’s so tough to manage for even five minutes when you lose a man for five minutes due to a yellow card and we played without Amit Rohidas for 43 minutes. All the players had a very strong mindset in the match against Great Britain that we cannot concede. So when we were getting ready for the semi-finals we were confident that we could reach the final. The way we started, it was very strong. We scored first as well and we were getting penalty corners. But somewhere the PCs that they got and the goals they scored gave them confidence. But till the last, we fought very hard. It was 2-2 till the last six minutes. We defended very well. After losing, we all were very disappointed. It wasn’t that we lost by playing poor hockey. We played very good hockey till the semi-finals but missed out on the final by a whisker. We all were disappointed. The whole of India was sad.

We had a one-day break and in the team meeting the next day we decided that we still had one more chance and needed to show the mindset that helped us win a medal at Tokyo. Because 11 members of the team were from the Tokyo Games and even the five debutants were doing very well. So we decided that these upcoming last 60 minutes are very important for us. Who knows whether we will play in the next Olympics or not. Also, everybody knew this was the last Olympics for PR (Sreejesh). Everybody was saying that we have to do it for PR because that man has given so much to Indian hockey. If we can give our 100% at the end then it will be great for Sreejesh and Indian hockey.

The scenario was such that these were the last 60 minutes and if we squandered it, we would regret it our whole life we had a chance to win another bronze or we could create history by winning back-to-back medals. And this mentality was visible in the bronze medal match. The way we approached the match, it felt very good. They (Spain) got a PC even in the last minute as well but we defended very well. Even in the last second, the ball came close to our goal but everyone only had one aim, ’that we need to win this match'.

Let’s assess the individual performances. You have captained this team and are a senior player. I want to talk about the five debutants that you spoke about. What’s your assessment of the debutants (Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Raj Kumar Pal, Abhishek, and Sukhjeet Singh) and their performances?

Manpreet: Olympics is a different pressure game. But our motto was that play the game and not the occasion. And these guys have already played with teams like Germany and England so it wasn’t very difficult for them. Sukhjeet, Abhishek, Raj Kumar and Jarmanpreet, all played very well in the Olympics.

Another topic I want to discuss with you is coach Craig Fulton. Two aspects specifically. After becoming India’s coach, he prioritised defence. I was among those who felt that we should have continued with our natural attacking hockey but India have won a medal. So that aspect and the mental aspect - the Switzerland trip or mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton’s support. Can you give your opinion on these two aspects and how India’s game has changed?

Manpreet: Fulton hasn’t stopped us from attacking. His plan is that you have freedom, use your skills but we won’t go on attack every time, we will pick and choose. Because if we keep our defence strong then we Indians can score in any minute. That we have done in the past as well. If we keep attacking but our goal is not guarded well then we will concede as well. He has given freedom to players to use their skills and play with freedom. If you make a mistake don’t be worried, we will cover for it as a team. We will also analyse with videos what we can do better there.

The second is the mental aspect. That is very important. We can work on 90% of our body but the 10% of our mind, how you make that strong is very important. Especially in crucial matches, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, how you keep your mind calm, how you approach things and don’t take unnecessary pressure. This is where Paddy comes in and the Switzerland trip was on this only. That you don’t have to worry about multiple things, just give your best. You don’t know what is going to happen in future so stay in the present. If we make a mistake, how can we work as a team? If we make a mistake, how we can recover from it and focus on the next thing? This helped us a lot.

I refer to you as the team’s ’engine room’, the playmaker, but in the game against Great Britain, you also had to play as a defender. How do you assess your performance at the Olympics and where do you see your career going forward?

Manpreet: My performance, I believe was good. I am never happy with my performance. I always want to do better and become better for the team. I also made mistakes so I need to work on them and on how to improve my performance. Next, I want to maintain my fitness. It has been going well. Also, as much as I can distribute the ball as a midfielder, that will be better. And if there’s any chance that I need to play as a defender then I am able to do justice to my role.

The last thing I want to ask you is that the medal win was a big moment but it is in the past now. So what are the lessons we can learn from the Paris Olympics and what should be India’s roadmap?

Manpreet: We had a very good campaign. But if I have to say something, against good teams you need to do everything well. You can’t give too many chances to a good team. You need to defend well throughout or anything, you need to continue doing that well till the end. So I think we will analyse the areas where we need to improve so that we can become better. Paris is now over and the medal has already come. Now the next cycle will start. The Asian Champions Trophy is coming, there will be World Cup, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games. Three to four major events are coming up. So how to approach them, what needs to the mindset, what we need to learn from the last Paris Olympics, now we will work on these things.