The Indian men's hockey team, under the leadership of Harmanpreet Singh, on August 8 scripted history by winning the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics 2024. This is India's second consecutive bronze medal in the Olympics and 13th overall in hockey. India's hockey team secured a 2-1 victory over Spain.
Playing for the bronze medal, skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored two back-to-back goals in the 30th and 33rd minutes of the match, after India were one down as Spain's Marc Miralles had scored a goal in the 18th minute.
Despite numerous penalty corners given to Spain, India's goalkeeper PR Sreejesh's effortless saves didn't let the Spanish do more damage.
With the Indian hockey team winning the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, Odisha CM Mohan Majhi on Thursday announced a cash reward of ₹15 lakh each for the players and ₹10 lakh each for the support staff. Odisha player Amit Rohidas will get ₹4 crore.
Since the beginning of hockey's introduction in the Olympics, Indians have dominated the game.
India won gold medals continuously in three Olympics – Amsterdam (1928), Los Angeles (1932) and Berlin (1936).
But the country had to wait for 12 years to win a gold medal again. In the 1948 London Olympics, India won the gold medal, followed by a silver in 1952 at the Helenski Games.
However, in 1956, India won the gold medal again in Melbourne, followed by another in Rome in 1960, and another in Tokyo in 1964.
India missed the gold and silver medals in 1968 and 1972 when the Olympics took place in Mexico City and Munich. The country, however, managed to win the bronze medal.
In 1980, India won the last gold medal when the Olympics took place in Moscow. But the country then had to wait for 40 years to clinch a medal in hockey. India finally won the bronze medal in 2020 in Tokyo and now in 2024 at the Paris Games.
Looking at the stats, the Indian Hockey team has won 8 gold medals in the Olympics, a silver, and four bronze medals.
With agency inputs.
