New Delhi: Senior India hockey player Manpreet Singh on Saturday said it was disappointing not to win a gold in the Olympics but a second consecutive bronze medal is not too bad either.
Eight-time Olympic champions India clinched a second consecutive bronze medal at Paris, beating Spain 2-1 in the play-off match. The last of India's Olympic hockey golds came in 1980.
"Feeling really good, last time we won the bronze and we won bronze this time as well, the mindset of the team was to play in the finals but that slipped out of our grasp, but we won the bronze and feel really good receiving all this love," the halfback told PTI Videos.
The 32-year-old also lauded the mental fortitude of the side as it defended with 10 players for close to 42 minutes against Britain in the quarterfinal after Amit Rohidas was shown a contentious red card.
The team won in a tense penalty shootout before going down to Germany in the semifinals.
"We train for these kind of moments, if someone gets a green card or a yellow card, how to defend, but we did not think that we would get the red card, it was not the fault of Amit Rohidas.
"But unfortunately, he got the red card, the defensive mindset of the team was good, and the way everyone defended was brilliant. We did not allow them to create easy opportunities, they took penalty corners and we defended those as well," he said.
Manpreet, who was captain of the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal-winning side, was full of praise for veteran India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who drew curtains on his 18-year career in Paris.
"What can I say about Sreejesh, I have spent 13 years with him. He was my senior, and he guided me, from 2012 to 2023 he guided me. Even when I was captain, he supported me, as to what we have to do and what not to do, what is good and what is not," he said.
"He would always motivate me, as a person he is great and as a player, he is a legend, he has done well in life and in his career, I will miss him because he was like a big brother to me." He is a veteran in the team but Manpreet has no plans to retire anytime soon.
"That is far away from us now, I will concentrate on my fitness, if everything goes well I will continue till 2028, if not let us see," he said.