India hockey skipper Manpreet Singh: We were ready to die on the field

India’s Hardik Singh (centre) celebrates after scoring against Great Britain in Tokyo yesterday. Pic/AP; PTI

The Indian men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh on Sunday said his players "almost killed themselves" in their efforts to secure an Olympic semi-final berth after a gap of 49 years, heaping praise on their commitment during the 3-1 quarter-final win over Great Britain here.

The eight-time former Olympic champions scored three field goals through Dilpreet Singh (7th minute), Gurjant Singh (16th) and Hardik Singh (57th) to seal the win.
Great Britain's lone goal was scored by Sam Ward from a penalty corner in the 45th minute.

The skipper said self-belief was key to success as India made the Last-4 round of the Olympics for the first time after the 1972 Munich Games.

Manpreet Singh

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

India's last of the eight Olympic gold medals came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games, but there were no semi-finals in that edition as only six teams participated in the event.

For a country that gave the world stalwarts like Major Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh Senior among others, it has been painful to watch the hockey teams' Olympic debacles before this edition.

In the Munich Games semi-finals, India had lost 0-2 to arch-rivals Pakistan.

Elated with the outcome of Sunday's match, Manpreet cautioned his teammates against early celebrations, saying the "business hasn't finished yet."

"We are so happy because after a long time we are reaching a semi-final. Still, the business hasn't finished yet. Still we have two more games so we need to focus, we need to have our feet on the ground and we need to focus on the next match," Manpreet said.

"Everyone played very well. We scored three outstanding goals, the strikers made a good opportunity and the whole team played really well," he added.
India will take on world champions Belgium in the semi-final on Tuesday.

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