Paris Olympics, hockey bronze medal: Harmanpreet Singh’s redemption arc complete as he leads India back to podium

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During the post-match, after India sealed a famous bronze medal in men’s hockey to go back-to-back at the Olympic Games, captain Harmanpreet Singh said, “Mein sorry bolna chahta hoon…”

As they beat Spain in a nail-biter (is there another kind of Indian hockey match?) to become the only men’s team on the podium in both Tokyo and Paris, India had plenty to celebrate. Consecutive Olympic medals for the first time since 1968-1972. The perfect farewell for PR Sreejesh. Indeed, a hockey medal for India at the Olympics is different.

Yet, the captain wanted to apologise. Because he believed this team was capable of going one better. For a team, and a player, that was left crestfallen at the start of last year after a pre-quarterfinal exit in front of home fans at the 2023 World Cup, this signified an immense turnaround. From 4 goals in Odisha, to 10 goals in Paris – the overall leading goalscorer of the 2024 Olympics Games – Harmanpreet’s redemption arc was complete.

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Fittingly, it was his drag flicking that made the difference in the bronze medal match against Spain, as he scored both of India’s goals in a 2-1 win.

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Odisha downer

He wasn’t the sole reason India’s World Cup dreams ended early in Odisha, but Harmanpreet personified India’s struggles. Appointed full-time captain in the lead-up to the tournament, he came into the tournament as India’s primary scoring option. But things didn’t work out. “That period came for the first time in my life, it had never happened to me like this before,” Harmanpreet told The Indian Express before leaving for Paris. “Whatever I tried wasn’t working, I didn’t know what was the reason then, but after that when I saw the videos, I focused on technique. the field with or without the ball, I played my normal game, but definitely the PCs that happened hurt us.”

It was a low point for Indian hockey, which raised questions about whether they were on track for the Olympics. On his way out though, then coach Graham Reid made a significant impact. One of his parting comments was the need for a mental conditioning coach. As Craig Fulton took over, he brought in a familiar figure to Indian sport along with him: Paddy Upton.

The South African mental guru has a reputation of lifting individuals from low points, and conversations with him proved impactful. “When mentally you know things are not going well, then how do you manage it? He told me, ‘make sure you remind yourself that you are the best in this, you know how to keep your mind working calmly. When you make mistakes and overthink it, then you waste at least one or two minutes on that’. We have done a lot of drills with him like breathing exercises, that’s helped me a lot,” Harmanpreet said.

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One of the things that the team focussed on since Fulton took over was visualisation, of not just success but also imagining scenarios where things don’t go well. “Before the Asian Games, in our meetings, we talked about a scenario that we are doing well in the early matches but may be in the semifinal or final, we won’t play well. The same happened at the Asian Champions Trophy (Chennai), where he had to come back in the second half in the final against Malaysia and overcome a deficit to win. We had literally spoken about that… if you are down in a big game, then how do we bounce back? Our game itself shouldn’t change, just because we are trailing.”

It happened in Paris too. After a ponderous start to the third-place clash against Spain, India found themselves 0-1 down with only few seconds to go for halftime. Manpreet Singh did well to win a PC and up stepped Harmanpreet. With a drag flick that was all power and precision, he brought India back to the match. The importance of an equaliser going into the mid-match break cannot be overstated.

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It was, what you would describe in modern sporting parlance, clutch.

Impressing Abbas

Even Paris wasn’t all smooth sailing for Harmanpreet. While he did score 10 goals, India’s conversion rate from PCs stood around 17 per cent as was Harmanpreet’s, who took 41 out of his side’s 53 PCs. What those numbers don’t tell, however, is when Harmanpreet scored India’s goals. There were last-minute winners or equalisers, there was that huge goal against GB just after India had gone down to 10 men, and then of course the bronze-medal clinchers.

Back-to-back medal victories secured by the Indian Hockey team in the Olympics! 🥉😍

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That is what caught the attention of Pakistan hockey legend Sohail Abbas, one of the game’s greatest drag flickers. “Trust me at his age I also used to miss a lot,” he told this daily. “People talk about the conversion rate, while I see how many clutch goals a drag-flicker has scored. Conversion rate will go up and down. Look, it is easy to put the blame on the drag-flickers, but you have to see it is not about power anymore. The game has changed.”

Abbas sees Harmanpreet as being influential four years from now in Los Angeles too. “I am impressed by Harman’s mindset. He is not only a good drag-flicker but he is an excellent defender as well. He is a complete packager and he can only improve.”

While LA might be four years away, in the here and now, Harmanpreet joins Manpreet and many hockey legends of the golden years as an Olympic medal-winning captain of India. Around 18 months back, there might have been doubts from the outside and inside too, but India’s Captain Fantastic – riding on the backing of his teammates – made sure the Olympic Games bronze remained with India.

(With reporting inputs from Pratyush Raj)

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Paris Olympics, hockey bronze medal: Harmanpreet Singh’s redemption arc complete as he leads India back to podium

Odisha downer

Impressing Abbas

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