'Could've won gold. For that, I apologise': Harmanpreet Singh's emotionally-charged message after historic hockey bronze

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After leading India to a thrilling 2-1 victory over Spain to clinch the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, captain Harmanpreet Singh called for renewed support for the Indian hockey team. Speaking to the broadcasters JioCinema following the match on Thursday, Harmanpreet emphasized the team's commitment to restoring Indian hockey to its former glory.

This was India's 13th Olympic medal in men's hockey and fourth bronze. India have won the most number of gold medals in Olympic history (8).

Reflecting on the tournament, Harmanpreet acknowledged the heartbreak of their narrow 3-2 loss to Germany in the semi-final but praised his team’s resilience in bouncing back. "Medal is medal. Both medals are big, I think in terms of Indian hockey, we are going up again, showing that we can beat any team in the world," India captain Harmanpreet Singh said.

"India's history in hockey is huge. We are trying to get us back to the top again. It is my humble plea that please support us and we will definitely do better next time," he further added.

Harmanpreet also spoke about the lost opportunity to clinch a gold, but stated that the team is happy that it returns from the Olympics with a medal.

"This is a big achievement for us. One has to wait for Olympics for four years. Our mentality is that we want to win always. We wanted to win gold and people believed in us that we can win gold, and for that, I apologise. We could have done it, but we just fell short. But we have won back-to-back medals, and that is a big achievement for India," the captain said.

"Our mentality was to keep the defence strong. We have one of the best Penalty Corner defence in the world and obviously we are very very happy to win our last match at Paris Olympics," he further added.

Harmanpreet on Sreejesh

The Indian captain specifically lauded PR Sreejesh, whose outstanding performance in the bronze medal match was pivotal. Harmanpreet expressed deep admiration for Sreejesh's incredible contributions to Indian hockey, dedicating the team’s success in Paris to the legendary goalkeeper as he marked the end of his international career.

"There are kids in our team, who are younger than PR Sreejesh's career. He has been with us for such a long time and he has made India proud. It was an emotional moment for the team and we wanted to dedicate this tournament to PR Sreejesh," concluded Harmanpreet.