New Delhi, August 4 (PTI) Dhanraj Pillay had tears of heartbreak when India missed out on a potential semi-final berth at Sydney Olympics conceding a goal against Poland in the dying moments after leading for 69 minutes. That was closest that Dhanraj, an all-time hockey great had come to an Olympic medal.

On Sunday, as India doggedly defended for 42 minutes with 9 men on the outfield and the special man named PR Sreejesh, who keeps raising the “bar”, the former centre forward couldn’t hold back his tears watching his team make it to the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics. “I couldn’t stop my tears. I have never seen such performance in many years and now I am convinced that this team can bring us the Olympic gold after 44 years,” the former India skipper said.

As soon as Rajkumar Pal scored the winning goal in the shoot-off, an emotional Dhanraj, glued to the TV at home, jumped in joy.

“Tears started falling from my eyes automatically. I saw such a match for the first time after the Sydney Olympics 2000. Sreejesh was standing like a wall in front of the goalpost and the number of saves he made is nothing short of a miracle,” Dhanraj, who has played four Olympics and four World Cups, told

Source: PTI News