The Indian Men’s Hockey team winning the Bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics has restored belief and instilled hopes as it comes after 41 years. The last time the Hockey team won a medal was in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, if we look back it was when Prakash Padukone in Badminton became the first Indian to win the All England Championship, it was when Bjorn Borg won his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title and it was when the US led the boycott in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
The Indian Hockey team made its debut in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics winning the gold and has participated in every Olympic Games except the 2008 Beijing as they failed to qualify for the first time. They have consecutively finished in the top three from the 1928 Olympics to the 1972 Munich Olympics. They have won Gold medals in the Olympics from 1928 to 1956, 1964 and the final one in 1980. They are the most successful Hockey team at the Olympics with a total of 8 Golds, 1 Silver and three Bronze medals.
They are the first medal winners for independent India at the Olympics, the game gave the world a sporting icon that is Major Dhyanchand known as the “Hockey Wizard” as he led India to three continuous Olympic Gold medals. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics it is said that Adolf Hitler was so awestruck by Dhyanchand that he was offered a German citizenship which he refused. His influence in the game is unmatched and is still one of the greatest sportsmen the world has seen. The game does not lack any legacy or legends as it is the sport which first gave us international fame and recognition. Players like Balbir Singh Dosanjh, Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Kishan Lal, Jaipal Singh Munda, Leslie Claudius, Udham Singh have brought us international accolades as well as Olympic trophies.
After the 1980 Moscow Olympics, it was the downfall of Indian Hockey as for almost 15 years they failed to make it big in the Olympics as well as the World Cups. They were on top in Asia but lost International dominance. They won Bronze medals in the 1986 Asian Games and the 1982 Champions Trophy. It was not until the late 90’s that they slowly started making a comeback as they won the 1998 Asian Games, they also won the inaugural Men's Hockey Champions Challenge I by defeating South Africa in the Final.
But things started falling again as they failed to win a medal in the 2006 Asian Games for the first time, in 2007 they fell to their lowest ranking at 12 and did not qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In the 2012 London Olympic games they finished last as they lost all their matches. They got back to their winning form when they won the bronze in the 2014-2015 Hockey World League and also won the 2016-2017 Asia cup. They were still unable to make a mark in the Olympics as they finished 8th in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
They have finally secured an Olympic medal in Tokyo as they will look to create more records in Hockey. They have the most victories as they have won 83 matches out of 134 in the Olympics. They also are the only team to win the Gold without conceding a single goal as they did in the 1928 and 1956 Olympics.
In the Tokyo Olympics they were placed in pool A alongside Australia and Argentina. They only lost to Australia in the 5 pool matches played. In the quarterfinals they defeated Great Britain and in the semifinals lost to eventual champions Belgium. In the Bronze medal playoff against Germany there was enormous pressure on the team as they were in desperate need of a victory which would end a long wait for a medal and provide a much needed morale boost to the team. The players held onto their nerves and bravely fought to win the Bronze medal. Harmanpreet Singh in his second Olympics finished as the leading scorer for his team as he finished with 6 Penalty corner goals and Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh also saved in the final moments of the game to confirm the victory for India. Captain Manpreet Singh the most experienced man on the squad will be honoured to have led a young side into one of the greatest moments in Indian olympic history. The victory resulted in another milestone for sports as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award has been renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and is quite fitting to the man who was truly “the magician” with a hockey stick.
The 91m turf will see more records broken, but before that it's important to savour this victory and rejoice as the country will welcome back all the heroes with pride in their hearts.
