India’s field Hockey team created history as they qualified for the Olympics semifinals after a long gap of 49 years. India had last qualified for the Olympics semis back in 1972 in Munich but had lost to arch-rivals Pakistan by 0-2. However, India defeated Great Britain by 3-1 in the quarterfinal to book their place in the last four of the quadrennial event.

Meanwhile, the team’s captain Manpreet Singh lauded the team’s commitment and said that the players gave their best on the field. In fact, Singh who led from the front added that the players almost killed themselves on the pitch.

Dilpreet Singh scored the opening goal for the Men in Blue whereas Gurjant Singh scored the second goal. But Great Britain were able to get back into action as Samuel Ward scored for the Men in Red. However, India sealed the match when Hardik Singh scored in the 57th minute of the game.

“It was believing. Everyone believed in themselves and that was the key today, everyone gave their 100 percent today and they were dying and almost killed themselves on the field,” Manpreet said.

“Everyone played very well. We scored three outstanding goals, the strikers made a good opportunity and the whole team played really well.”

On the other hand, P. R Sreejesh was once again top-class in front of the goal as gave his best. The Indian goalkeeper is having a superb tournament as he is making crucial saves.

“Unbelievable. You can see he (Sreejesh) always gives us life. That’s why we call him ”The Wall”. It’s always outstanding,” he said.

The Indian skipper added that the team gave their 100%. In fact, Manpreet was given a yellow card in the fag end of the match but his team was able to hold the fort without their leader on the pitch.

“I knew that my team would give me 100 per cent and they would save me today because I got the (yellow) card, but they gave their 100 per cent for me and I say thank you to all of my teammates.”