‘We achieved what we came for,’ says Manpreet after India defend hockey gold

Kakamigahara: India midfielder Manpreet Singh said the team remained focused on its goal despite criticism surrounding its campaign as the defending champions retained their Asian Games hockey gold with a commanding 5-1 win over Malaysia in the final here on Saturday.

“Actually, there are many things that happen outside the box. Criticism keeps going on, but our focus was not on that. We had come here to achieve something, and we achieved that today,” Manpreet told IANS after the final.

The Indian team had faced scrutiny ahead of the Asian Games but produced a dominant campaign, winning all five of their group-stage matches before edging past Pakistan 4-3 in a dramatic semifinal.

Manpreet said the Asian Games gold and direct Olympic qualification would now allow India to focus on improving specific areas of their game instead of having to go through the qualification route for LA 2028.

“The Asian Games was a very important tournament for us because from here we have directly qualified for LA. We don’t have to play the qualifier round now, so we can work on ourselves, identify the areas where we need to improve and see how we can go to LA better prepared,” he said.

Reflecting on the final, Manpreet credited India’s defence for keeping Malaysia under control while also making the most of their opportunities in attack. “From the start to the end, our defence was very good. Whenever we got chances, whether through penalty corners or field goals, we converted them,” he said.IANS

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