Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey expressed great delight at the Men in Blue's bronze-medal finish at the Paris Olympics following their win against Spain.
Dilip lauded the painstaking efforts of the Indian team and mentioned that the sport has a very radiant future and is going from strength to strength.
"There are no complaints with this Indian team anymore," Tirkey told reporters after India's win over Spain in the bronze medal match. "I think we deserved to claim either silver or gold but have to settle for bronze. I feel the bronze in Paris after the bronze we had claimed in Tokyo signifies the hard work put in by every single player in the last few years."
"Indian hockey has grown leaps and bounds in recent times and it brings me immense happiness as president of Hockey India (HI). We will keep on improving in the days to come and hopefully scale more milestones. I am pleased to see how the team has shown character and fight and I really want to thank the Hockey India secretary Bhola Nath Singh.
"I want to extend my heartiest congratulations to the entire team. We came to Paris with the aim of winning a medal and have fulfilled it after the 2-1 win over Spain," he added.
Tirkey heaped praise on captain Harmanpreet Singh and retiring goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and also pointed out the crucial role Amit Rohidas played in the bronze medal game.
"It will always be a lifelong regret of mine that I and the other members of my batch couldn't win a medal for the country at the Olympics. However, our team's back-to-back bronze medal finishes in Tokyo and Paris have filled our hearts with pride.
"Harmanpreet Singh was phenomenal in the bronze medal match against Spain and was beautifully backed up by PR Sreejesh. Amit Rohidas had a major role to play in our win as a rusher and we missed him dearly in the semifinal," he mentioned.
Lastly, Tirkey thanked the former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik for his support of Indian hockey and revealed that the incumbent chief minister of the state has also promised to continue the support.
"We owe a lot to the former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik for the way he sponsored the men's and women's hockey teams during his tenure. We have also spoken to the incumbent chief minister of Odisha Mohan Charan Majhi and he has also promised to offer plenty of help going forward," he concluded.
