India's Olympic bronze medal win in hockey leads to outpouring of emotions: 'Hockey is an emotion’

The Indian men’s hockey team ended the country’s week-long medal drought in Paris by winning a medal in consecutive editions of the Olympics for the first time in more than half a century, defeating Spain 2-1 to win bronze on Thursday.

Skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace in a space of three minutes to finish as the leading goal-scorer (10) in the competition after Marc Miralles put the Spaniards in the lead by scoring off a penalty stroke three minutes into the second quarter.

India had collected a bronze in Tokyo 2020 — their first Olympic medal in the sport since winning gold at Moscow 1980. The Harmanpreet Singh-led side would have hoped to upgrade their Tokyo bronze to a gold or silver in Paris, the dreams of which were dashed by a 2-3 defeat at the hands of Germany in the second semi-final.

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Team India, though, ensured they got their act right in their final match of the campaign and bowed out with a medal around their necks, winning back-to-back Olympic medals for the first time since India had won a bronze each in Mexico City 1968 and Munich 1972.

The bronze, India’s fourth in the Paris Olympics and the first one not coming from the shooting team, naturally got a billion-plus Indians — whether in Paris or back home or across the world — into a celebratory frenzy, the mood of which was evident on micoblogging platform X.

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Here are select reactions to India’s triumph over Spain on X: