Paris: The Indian men’s hockey team clinched a second successive bronze medal at the Olympic Games for the first time in 52 years with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Spain, giving veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh a fitting farewell here on Thursday.
It was tense last few minutes for the Indians as they faced two short corners within the last minute but the defence stood tall and soaked in the pressure.
India, who claimed the bronze in Tokyo Games after a hiatus of 41 years, lived up to the expectations despite not having a perfect build-up to the Games.
The last time India won back-to-back Olympic medals was in 1968 (bronze) and 1972 editions (bronze).
The bronze medal was also a desperate wait for the Indian contingent In Paris, which has endured six fourth-place finishes so far, apart from heartbreaking disqualification of wrestler Vinesh Phogat.
Spain went ahead with skipper Marc Miralles (18th) converting a penalty stroke while India captain Harmanpreet Singh (30th, 33rd) stole the limelight with a brace.
Shrugging off their heart-wrenching 2-3 defeat against Germany in the semifinal, India came out all guns blazing to dominate the possession in the first quarter.
It was an offensive start from India as they penetrated Spain’s defence regularly in the first 15 minutes and created the first scoring chance of the match in the sixth minute.
Vice-captain Hardik Singh created a fine move from the right and passed the ball into the D to Sukhjeet Singh, whose shot went just wide of the left side Spanish goal as the Europeans survived.
The Spanish came with more purpose and intensity in the second quarter and pressed hard on the Indian goal. They took the lead in the 18th minute through a penalty stroke conversion by Miralles after Manpreet Singh conceded an unnecessary foul inside the D.
Spain kept up the tempo and secured back-to-back penalty corners in the 20th minute but the Indians defended stoutly. In the 28th minute, Spain secured another penalty corner after Borja Lacalle hit the post but it went in vain.
Still trailing, India pressed hard on the Spain defence and secured their first penalty corner in the 29th minute but could not convert.
Just 21 seconds from half-time, Manpreet compensated for his fault by earning India another penalty corner and this time Harmanpreet was bang on target.
India got another penalty corner in the 35th minute but Harmanpreet’s fierce stroke was blocked by Spain goalkeeper Luis Calzado.
Mandeep Singh’s terrific run from the left flank resulted in another short corner but Spanish on-ruhser Jordi Bonastre took a blow on his left knee to deny India.
Sreejesh then foiled an attempt from Spain as India kept its 2-1 lead till the end of third quarter.
Hardik had to be taken off the field five minutes after the fourth quarter after he collided with a rival player to suffer a hand injury.
This was after India yet again made a short corner save. It was Manpreet, who mistakenly landed the ball on Hardik’s foot.
However, Marc Recasens hit wide, much to the relief of the Indian camp.
Three minutes from the final hooter, Spain took off goalkeeper Calzado in a desperate attempt to find equaliser but India made no mistake in the dying moments.
