Tokyo Olympics 2020: Facts About The Indian Men's Hockey Team That Brought Home The Bronze Medal

India defeated Germany 5-4 in their men's hockey bronze medal match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. At the Oi Hockey Stadium, Simranjeet Singh scored two goals for India, while Hardik Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, and Rupinder Pal Singh also scored well. The victory also helped the Indian men's hockey team end a 41-year Olympic medal drought. The last time India won an Olympic hockey medal was in 1980 when the country won its last gold medal.

Field hockey is a sport with a long history and tradition in India. A sport that has brought India 11 Olympic medals, including eight golds, between 1928 and 1980, has renewed the country's love affair with the Olympic stage.

Here are some facts that you need to know about the present Indian men's hockey team.

Major Achievements Of Current Men's Hockey Team Of India

• Gold at the 2011 Ordos City Asian Champions Trophy
• Silver at the 2013 Ipoh Asia Cup
• Silver at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games
• Gold at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games
• Silver at the 2016 Guwahati South Asian Games
• Silver at the 2016 London Champions Trophy
• Bronze at the 2016-17 Bhubaneswar World League
• Gold at the 2017 Dhaka Asia Cup
• Gold at the 2018 Muscat Asian Champions Trophy
• Silver at the 2018 Breda Champions Trophy
• Bronze at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games
• Bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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Indian Men's Hockey Team: Facts

• In men's hockey, India was once a force to be reckoned with, winning as many as 8 gold medals at the Olympic Games. Indeed, India won the gold medal the last time the Games were hosted in Japan, in 1964. But it's been a long time since Men's hockey won a medal at the Olympics after winning gold in the 1980 edition.

• The 16-member Indian team at Tokyo 2020 was headed by midfielder Manpreet Singh, the first Indian hockey player to win the FIH men's hockey player of the year award - in 2019.

• Over the last four years, Manpreet's Indian squad has performed admirably, winning the Asia Cup in 2017, the Asian Champions Trophy in 2018, and the FIH Series Final in 2019. In the 2018 World Cup in Bhubaneswar, they also reached the quarterfinals.

• Manpreet was competing in his third Olympic Games, and he had two deputies in the form of defenders Birendra Lakra and Harmanpreet Singh.

• However, one of the fascinating facts about this Indian team is that 10 of the 16 players were competing in their first Olympics. Amit Rohidas, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Birendra Lakra are among the ten players.

• In Pool A, India was grouped with Argentina, three-time world champions and current world number one Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and hosts Japan. Only the Australians (1-7) defeated India, but India went on to win all of their remaining matches to go to the quarter-finals.

• India defeated Great Britain 3-1 in the quarter-finals to go to the semi-finals. India, on the other hand, fell 2-5 in the semi-finals to Belgium, the former world number one team. As a result, they entered the bronze medal match, where they faced Germany. Germany is rated sixth in the world, one spot behind India (5).

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India's Men's Hockey Team For The Tokyo Olympics

• PR Sreejesh was the Goalkeeper.
• Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh, and Amit Rohidas were the Defenders.
• Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit were the Midfielders.
• Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Mandeep Singh were among the Forwards.
• Krishan Pathak (Goalkeeper), Varun Kumar (Defender), and Simranjit Singh (Midfielder) were on Standby.
• Graham Reid is the Coach.