India clinched the bronze medal in men’s hockey with a 2-1 victory over Spain on Thursday at the Paris Olympics.
India captain Harmanpreet Singh (30’, 33’) fired his team to a podium finish with a brace, striking twice in a space of three minutes around the halfway stage. This was after Marc Miralles (18’) put the Spaniards in the lead through a penalty stroke three minutes into the second quarter.
It was the perfect send-off for veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who had earlier indicated that the Paris Olympics would be his last.
Ace captain Harmanpreet finished as the leading goal-scorer in the men’s hockey event in Paris 2024, scoring 10 goals across the competition — seven of them through penalty corners and three off penalty strokes.
India thus far has won four medals in the Paris Games, this being the first medal that was not won by the shooting team.
This the first time since 1972 that the Indian men’s hockey team has won a medal in consecutive Olympics since they won bronze in 1968 and 1972. This win takes the Indian men’s hockey team overall medal count at the Olympics to 13 – eight gold, one silver and now four bronze medals over the decades.
With Belgium and Australia, who had won gold and silver respectively in 2020, India are the only team to finish on the podium of both the Tokyo and the Paris Games.
India had won bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — their first Olympic medal in the sport since winning gold in Moscow 1980 — with a 5-4 victory over Germany.
The Germans, however, avenged their Tokyo heartbreak with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Harmanpreet and team, progressing to the gold medal match in Paris where they will now face two-time Olympic champions Netherlands later on Thursday.
