It has been a busy year for Harmanpreet Singh and the Indian men's hockey team. Among the plethora of big matches and titles up for grabs was the Olympics in Paris where captain Harmanpreet led the side to their second consecutive bronze medal. He scored a whopping 10 goals and was the top scorer at Paris 2024 as India won medals at consecutive Olympcis for the first time since 1972. India then followed that up by dominating the 2024 Asian Champions Trophy and Harmanpreet's status as the biggest name in the men's sport in the country was cemented by the fact that he was bought by Soorma Hockey Club of his native Punjab for INR 78 lakh during the Hockey India League (HIL) auction, the highest for any player. He was gracious enough to take some time out from a much-deserved break for speaking with Hindustan Times.

Excerpts:

How would you sum up this year?

It has been amazing. We have achieved a lot this year as a team, achieved most of our targets. Our target was gold at the Olympics of course, but we performed really well. We got a lot of love and support from the people which was wonderful. So quite happy with it.

It feels quite incredible to even ask this question but I will put it to you anyhow: among the two Olympic medals that you have won can you say which one was the more difficult one to win?

Bhai (laughs), you can't ask that. This is like asking which roti was better, the one you had yesterday or today. Ye hamari rozi roti hai (this is our bread and butter). Both of them are equally valuable and important. It was very difficult to win both. So no there is no answer to that question apart from the fact that they both are priceless.

It has been such a hectic year for all of you and now you are on a break before the Hockey India League. How much were you looking forward to this downtime, how good has it been for you?

Certainly, the entire year was packed so finally getting some time off. Spending it with my family. We also have our responsibilities with some training routines which I am sticking to. But yes, the focus is on spending as much time as possible with my family. In fact my daughter is asleep in my hands right now. It's a wonderful time at the moment.

Could you tell me what kind of light training you do even on break to stay in shape?

Our trainers and coaches give us certain routines to maintain and we keep following up with them. We can't lie around on the bed for too long on our break days. Fitness is very important and you understand its value even more once you become an experienced player. Of course, we do give a break of 3-4 days to our bodies and mentally we try to just relax. So we spend time with our family, train somewhat according to our schedule, it is just a change of scene and a different atmosphere and that is quite important.

Do you also follow hockey matches in your time off?

Oh yes, I was just following the women's team (India beat Paris 2024 silver medallists China in the final to win the 2024 Women's Asian Champions Trophy). They performed so well and won the trophy, very happy to see that. The boys are at the Asia Cup (Men's Junior Asia Cup in Muscat). There was a match against Japan today (India won 3-2) and there was a big win before that (India beat Thailand 11-0). I do like following the matches, in fact I do watch any of the matches at the national level and in the age-group levels whenever I can.

PR Sreejesh is the head coach of the Indian team in Muscat for the Junior Asia Cup. Just wanted your thoughts on him transitioning into a coaching role and how you feel it will pan out.

He was such a great player, experienced. He has got a lot of knowledge of the sport and he has got very good communication skills. He can really guide players well. I would love to ask him whenever I get a chance how his experience has been thus far as a coach. I am sure it is going to go well for him though, the team peformed well when they went for the Sultan of Johor Cup as well. Hope we win the Junior World Cup as well now.

You have spoken in the past of the role the HIL played in your development as a junior player and now the league is returning. How are you looking forward to the season?

It is very important, very necessary for the future of hockey. So big thanks to Hockey India for bringing it back. It is happening after seven years. This is a great opportunity for the younger players. When we were young it really helped in shaking off nervousness and building confidence. There are a lot of young players and as seniors, whether we be Indian or not, we will be looking to teach as many things as possible which will come in handy later in their careers. This is the time for them to learn, build up their confidence.

It would obviously be different to play for these league teams compared to playing for your domestic side or your national side, especially because you will be playing with foreign players. Can you shed more light on exactly what aspects are different?

Yes it is quite different, everyone comes with their own ways of playing and their own different mindsets. We have to somehow put them all together and build a team. That is the biggest task and that is also the part that we enjoy. You learn new things, a lot of new ideas. Players from all kinds of backgrounds learn to play together. The foreign players won't take too long to adjust, training routines and other aspects are largely standardised everywhere nowadays. So I think the focus will always be on getting the youngsters comfortable in the team. Really excited for it.

What was your reaction when you got to know that you are going to play for Soorma and you have fetched INR 78 lakh in the HIL auction?

I was very happy that I'm going to play for a team based in Punjab, family also was very happy. I am from here after all. Any kind of financial incentive is very good but I was very happy that I am playing for the Punjab team. I would've been happy regardless of which team I went to but it is more special that I am going to play for the team that represents where I come from. We have got a good team together, hopefully we will do well.

India's next assignment is the next Pro League season, which starts on February 15. It will be a quick turnover from the end of the HIL, isn't it?

Yes, there isn't too much time. I think there is a break of about 3-4 days after the league and then we straightaway go into the national camp. There isn't too much time. It's good that we will be playing continuously though, there won't be too many issues with maintaining fitness. We will have to manage our bodies to a certain extent while playing the HIL. But it is good that we are playing right after that, we are quite excited for it. We want to do well in the Pro League, it will be a good way to prepare for the Asia Cup (to be held in Rajgir, Bihar from August 27).

Finally, hockey has been axed from the Commonwealth Games and won't feature at Glasgow 2026. What was your reaction when you first got this news?

Of course, it was our target to win the CWG gold. We beat Australia at the Olympics and they have been winning gold at CWG right from the beginning. We were quite confident that we would be able to do something special this time and win gold. It is sad but well, not in our hands.

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