New Delhi, Aug 10: They were greeted with a grand and heroic welcome at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, here on Saturday on their arrival from Paris.
Why not? They did make the nation proud by winning back to back Olympic Bronze medals. They created history by winning consecutive medals for the first time since the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Elated with the warm reception on their return, captain of Indian men's hockey team Harmanpreet Singh stated, It was heart-warming to see Indian fans come out to receive and congratulate us for the Bronze medal at Paris 2024 Olympics."
The Indian men's hockey team repeated their Tokyo Olympics performance by winning the Bronze medal in Paris Games 2024. Prior to Tokyo Games, the last time India received an Olympic medal in hockey was way back in 1980 in Moscow, where they won Gold.
The team that had won Bronze in Tokyo, of that squad 11 players including previous edition skipper Manpreet Singh and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh were part of the 16-member squad in Paris.
Sreejesh, the former India captain and one of world's best hockey goalkeepers, has retired from international hockey after clinching a Bronze medal in Paris Games.
In their journey to Bronze medal in Paris Olympics, India faced two defeats. They lost to Belgium in Group stages and were defeated by Germany 3-2 in the semifinal.
Their journey in Paris Games included victory against Spain in Bronze medal game. India also defeated formidable Australia by 3-2 in Group stages and won against Great Britain in quarterfinal.
