Indian hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh, who won the shootout in the Paris Olympics quarter-finals despite playing with 10 players against Britain, said on Sunday that this was the best performance of the defence. After experienced defender Amit Rohidas got a red card in the 18th minute, India had to play with ten players for almost three quarters. Harmanpreet, who has scored seven goals so far in the Paris Olympics, said, “We had no option but to keep the score equal till the last minute. We focused on defense and played with a combination. The communication between the players was very good. This victory was achieved due to team efforts.
He said that the team had to forget the red card and move ahead. “We couldn’t change what happened,” he said. Victory has been achieved through team efforts. This was the best performance of our defence. It was not easy to play with ten players. We cannot be nervous at such a stage. Which team we are playing against, how many players are on the field, playing with ten players, all this does not matter. He praised goalkeeper P R Sreejesh but said that it was not a ‘one man show’. . He said, “Sreejesh is a legend and one of the best. He saves matches for us but if you ask him also he will say that it is a team effort. The team comes first, then the individual.
India made it to the semi-finals due to the strong performance of ‘troubleshooter’ PR Sreejesh. Goalkeeper Sreejesh, playing his last tournament, once again proved to be the wall of Indian hockey and despite playing with ten players for 42 minutes, India defeated Britain 4-2 in the penalty shootout and entered the last four. We have to praise the Indian defence, which under the leadership of Sreejesh defended every attack by Britain and did not allow it to take the lead. Britain attacked the Indian goal 28 times and got only one success. With the score remaining 1-1 at the stipulated time, the match went to a shootout. Apart from the shootout, captain Harmanpreet Singh also scored a goal in the stipulated time.
