Tokyo Olympics 2020: India's moment to savour as hockey's 41-year wait for podium ends

Finally! You’ve waited for 41 years. Suffered through nine Olympic Games. Nursed heartbreak after heartbreak for two generations. Group stage exits. Hope turning to ashes. Talent going rancid. Generational superstars arriving and fading out. But no medal. And then, on one sweltering Tokyo morning, in a match played without a single fan in the stadium, a bronze medal. Words like historic are thrown around in Indian sport like confetti at a birthday party. But there’s no other way to describe a hockey medal for India at the Olympics after four decades. It is historic. For the past few days—as the high-flying campaigns of the men’s team and then the women’s team were grounded in the semi-finals—Indian players and coaches have been repeating a sporting cliche. This is a game of chances. The other teams seized theirs. We didn’t.

Well, is there a better example of grabbing their chance by the scruff of its neck than what the men’s team did on Thursday? Down by one goal in the second minute, level by the 17th. Down 1-3 by the 25th minute, back level by half-time, and surging 5-3 ahead by the 34th minute. Germany are the world’s top defensive side. But India on Thursday were the world’s most desperate team. In a contest that was a punch-drunk collision of wills, India found themselves going into the third quarter with a 5-3 lead. 15 minutes to defend a two-goal advantage. 15 minutes from history. India have a history of conceding late goals. Germany start the fourth quarter with a goal. History starts to get a little out of focus. Even the atheists have taken to prayers. Germany get three more penalty corners, one after the other. India cling on. Barely. As the final hooter sounds, bodies start falling on the pitch in various states of emotional undress. Players wearing Germany’s whites are in mourning, unable to find the legs to stand anymore. Players wearing blue are delirious. Giddy. One India player sinks to his knees next to the goalpost and weeps unabashedly while kissing the pitch. PR Sreejesh is a theatre of his own. He runs like a mad man towards an empty stand, arms outstretched. He slides on his knees as if attempting a football celebration. He climbs on the goalpost and sits there for a few minutes. Finally, he pays obeisance to the goalpost, lying flat in front of it, hands joined in prayer as you would do in front of a deity. [caption id=“attachment_9867021” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] PR Sreejesh celebrates India’s win over Germany. Image: AP[/caption] “The goalpost is my temple,” says the goalkeeper. As he stands in the overpowering heat talking to the journalists, all his layers of protective clothing cannot cloak his emotions. “I’ve waited 21 years for this day.” Simranjeet Singh arrives soon after, talking about his own journey. It’s his sinewy arms that powered the reverse stick rocket into the German goal and started India’s scoring for the day. But as he talks to the media after the match now, his hands start to tremble. Rupinderpal Singh has felt the hurt and the disappointment for all his career. He’s heard the barbs. “Many people had doubted this team. I just want to tell them that your views and criticism do not matter to us. Next time, just keep some patience,” he says. Captain of the team, Manpreet Singh, blanks out for a while just after the win. One of the most articulate members of the Indian hockey team says: “I had no words. There was nothing coming out of my mouth. Main toh wahin pe let gaya (I collapsed on the pitch right then).” Of course, these are the Olympics, so everything gets amplified. A first-round defeat feels like the end of the world. A bronze via repechage feels like it is a victory worthy of an open-top bus parade. But a bronze medal for the Indian hockey team… how do you put that in perspective? We are a nation that has won 11 medals in men’s hockey so far. We are a country whose hockey lineage can be traced from all-conquering teams with names like Major Dhyan Chand, Balbir Singh Senior, and Muhammed Shahid. How do you put that into perspective? “A medal at an Olympics means a lot to all teams. It’s an Olympic medal,” concedes Germany’s Florian Fuchs, reminding you that thinking of a bronze medal as consolation is a fool’s errand. “Our journey hasn’t finished, it’s just starting,” reminds Manpreet. “This is an exciting bunch of players,” added Graham Reid. “Watch this space.” Gladly.