Young striker Dilpreet Singh on Wednesday said that the Indian hockey team kept its morale high despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the historic bronze medal-winning achievement at the Tokyo Olympics is only the beginning of a new era. The Indian men’s team ended its 41-year long wait for an Olympic medal by winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games last month.
“We all worked very hard to achieve this feat. We never let any difficulty affect our morale during the pandemic. In a release issued by Hockey India (HI), he said, “The seniors played a big role in constantly encouraging us and making us feel that we can do it.
“I really believe this is a new beginning. We all want to achieve more, and we want people to love us more and continue to support us. And for that to happen, we know That we should continue to perform well in major tournaments. We are mentally prepared for that,” the 21-year-old added.
Dilpreet has had a dream run with the Indian team so far. Since his stellar performance in the Sultan of Johor Cup in 2017, where India Colts won the bronze medal, Dilpreet’s career has reached new heights. He was called up to the senior camp and soon became a part of the team in almost every major tournament since 2018, including the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games as well as the World Cup in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. “I feel very fortunate to be a part of this incredible group and yes, I believe I have been fortunate to have had such a good start to my international career,” he said.
The young forward from Punjab said that he found support from the senior team especially after the 2018 FIH Men’s World Cup, where the team was knocked out in the quarter-finals, which turned out to be a turning point in his career.
“Looking back, it was definitely not an easy phase for me. Maybe, I couldn’t handle the success of playing in such a big tournament so early in my career. I was barely 18 or 19 then.”
“The junior team coaches guided me during 2019 and I worked closely with the psychologist at SAI, Bengaluru at that time. “After head coach Graham Reid took over, he saw me during training and spoke to me personally and that inspired me a lot. After getting a chance to be back in the senior group, I didn’t look back.”
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