Paris: All those days of sweat and toil at the SAI South Centre on the outskirts of Bengaluru bore fruit in the suburbs of Paris as the Indian men’s hockey team won the Olympic bronze medal in an emotionally-charged game on Thursday.
In a match where they were slow to start off but grew in confidence as it progressed, the Indians displayed remarkable calmness towards the end in seeing off steely Spain 2-1 at the historic Yves-du-Manoir Stadium to bag their second successive bronze at the quadrennial bash and give outgoing goalkeeper PR Sreejesh the perfect farewell gift.
Spain began the opening quarter with a proper plan, packing the midfield and barely giving any space for the Indians to play their free-flowing game or employ those lightning quick counter-attacks. The Indians struggled to break through the organised Spanish midfield, who hardly put a foot wrong at the start in the crunch clash.
Totally choked for movement, the Indians resorted to high balls from the midfield into the Spanish final third but the Europeans were up for that game also. They brilliantly man-marked all the Indians, literally following them like shadows and cutting off any possible chances. In effect, India could muster only two chances in the opening quarter and missed both of them.
The Spaniards then upped the tempo a bit in the second quarter. While they maintained their shape brilliantly, they also showed some urgency in going forward because at the end of the day goals matter and that’s what wins games.
They pressed India hard and stroked ahead within three minutes of the quarter starting after seasoned Manpreet Singh fouled a charging Gerard Clapes under the umpire’s nose that saw a penalty stroke being awarded which Marc Miralles converted gleefully to give themselves an adrenaline shot.
The Spaniards then launched a series of raids on the Indian citadel and were almost on the verge of doubling their advantage on three occasions. Jose Maria Basterra’s two penalty corners were saved while a diving Borja Lacalle caught the post. The Indians, at that stage, were living dangerously.
They somehow survived all of that and almost out of nowhere got back to level terms right at very fag end of the second quarter, Harmanpreet rifling one from a penalty corner. That goal changed the mindset of the Indians and they came roaring in the third quarter to take control of the game.
India took the lead in the 33rd minute through Harmanpreet’s blazing penalty corner and forced Spain to lose their shape completely. Their midfield and marking fell apart and Indians, waiting patiently to unleash their speed though the centre and wings, went berserk in search of extra goals to put Spain out of the match. Harmanpreet had three chances to complete a hat-trick but all of his drag-flicks were defended stoutly by Spain as was Abhishek’s effort from point blank.
Those missed chances looked like it may cost India as Spain enjoyed a brief spell of possession and they almost made it count when Basterra stroked a ball into the Indian net in the 40th minute following a botch penalty corner but the umpire ruled it a no-goal as the ball caught Marc Recasens body.
With Spain going in search of an equaliser in the final quarter, action flowed from end to end in a breathless finale. Spain almost broke Indian hearts when Igancio Rodriguez fired a near unstoppable shot from a penalty corner with seconds left on the hooter but Sreejesh stuck his hand out to stall the bullet. He knew he’d almost capped his career in the high he dreamt off.
It happened seconds later when the final hooter went off, the players on their knees and roaring in delight.
Result: India: 2 (Harmanpreet Singh 30th, 33rd) bt Spain: 1 (Marc Miralles 18th).