Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh, goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and head coach Craig Fulton termed India’s loss to Germany in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics 2024 as heartbreaking.

India lost to Germany 2-3 and will play Spain for the bronze medal while Germany and the Netherlands will play for the gold and silver medals.

Harmanpreet Singh (7th minute) and Sukhjeet Singh (36th minute) scored for India while Gonzalo Peillat (18th minute), Christopher Ruhr (27th minute) and Marco Miltkau (54th minute) were Germany’s goal scorers.

The Indian captain said the team will now fight tooth and nail to win the bronze medal. “This is extremely disappointing as we came here to win a gold medal. But, having said that, it is better to go home with bronze than nothing. When you lose in the semifinal game, it is not easy to take, as reaching the final is a dream of any athlete,” the captain told the official broadcasters after the match.

The skipper added that errors in defence did them in. “We made a few errors in defence and we missed a few chances,” he said briefly.

Sreejesh, who is playing in his last international tournament and the Olympics, said the focus will now be on winning the bronze. “It’s a heartbreaking loss for us. We had the chance to win gold, but now, we have to forget this semifinal and focus on the bronze medal match,” the goalkeeper said.

He concurred with his captain on the mistakes and added that creating an impact in the opponent’s half will win games. “We cannot commit such silly mistakes during the match. We could not make an impact in the opponent’s half. I think rather than my situation, the team is more important. Just forget about that and play the next game in a better way, bounce back in the next game,” he explained.

Head coach Craig Fulton said India played a great match and pushed hard till the final hooter. “We are disappointed we could not get over the line. We played a great match, pushed very hard till the end,” the coach added.

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