Legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh walked into the sunset with his head held high as he ended his 18-year-long career with yet another Olympic bronze. India defeated Spain in the bronze medal playoff 2-1 to clinch back-to-back Olympic medals for the first time after 52 years.
India's forward Mandeep Singh interacted with India TV after the bronze medal match against Spain and opened on the team's win. He stated that the team had made its mind to win the match for the legend Sreejesh and bid him goodbye with another medal around his neck.
"Our main target was to win the medal for Sree paaji (Sreejesh). Of course, we wanted to win it for India but also for Sreejesh today. This was his last match so we wanted to give our best," Mandeep told India TV's Sports Editor Samip Rajguru.
The Indian team displayed a world-class level of hockey. They started slow with a close win over New Zealand but found their mojo in the latter part of the group stage. Mandeep highlighted on the team's performance at the Games.
"The team was playing so well from the start. We defeated Australia for the first time after 52 years in the Olympics. We were one man down against Great Britain in the third quarter for almost three quarters, but won there too," he added.
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Mandeep also shared how the team bounced back after the semifinal loss. "We lost the semifinal despite playing well but we had it in our mind that we have a medal in our sight. We thought we would keep our chins up in the bronze medal match. We are happy that we won the medal today," he added.
"We kept believing in ourselves despite being 0-1 down against Spain in the bronze medal match. We created opportunities. Harmanpreet scored from PCs (penalty corners). It was nice," he said.
As anyone would, Mandeep called Sreejesh 'the wall of Indian hockey' and hoped the team's hockey future would keep the good work going.
