New Delhi: India’s men’s hockey team has secured a direct ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and skipper Harmanpreet Singh and his teammates are looking ahead, insisting that the focus will remain on the process and using the next 18 months to build towards the Games.
Harmanpreet was delighted with the team’s gold medal-winning campaign in Nagoya but said the players were repeatedly reminded to stick to their process and not get distracted by the scoreline.
“Very happy that we have returned with the medal, so no need to say anything else,” Harmanpreet said.
“Stick to the process and training, and don’t take any pressure, doesn’t matter what the score is.”
The Olympic qualification, secured by winning the Asian Games, has given India valuable time to prepare for Los Angeles, with Harmanpreet confident of making the most of the period leading up to the Games.
“We have a good opportunity that we will get good time before LA Olympics and looking forward that we will do good there and in all the matches before that as well,” he said.
India had to dig deep against Pakistan in a tense semifinal, with Harmanpreet admitting that the team made some mistakes but managed to hold its nerve and secure the win.
“The match went really well, it was one such match of the tournament where we did some silly mistakes and I think somehow that last minute goal was very good but in defense overall the whole team performed well,” he said.
Veteran mid-fielder Manpreet Singh acknowledged that Pakistan’s attacking quality made the semifinal a difficult contest, but said India always believed they could prevail if they played at their best.
“It was a good match, because they are a good team, they have got good strikers, they punished us on our mistakes as well, but we knew that we will definitely win if we will give our 100 per cent,” he said.
For forward Mandeep Singh, the Asian Games had been the primary target after India’s World Cup campaign.
“The performance in the World Cup, it’s not that we didn’t get the medal but the aim was that we had to qualify for the LA Olympics in the Asian Games,” he said.
