Rupinder Pal Singh said that the performances put in by the Indian women's hockey team in Tokyo were a source of inspiration for the men.
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Indian men’s hockey team defender and drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh had words of praise for the national women’s team, citing their performances as inspiration during the recently concluded Tokyo 2020. Rupinder hailed the manner in which the women’s team made a stunning comeback to quality for a historic semi-final, having lost the opening three games. Rani Rampal had earlier stated that her team took motivation from the performances of the men’s hockey team, adding a fine touch.
“In meetings we used to talk about it; that we should play like the girls. They lost the first three games and still came back and played the quarter-finals and semi-finals. That really inspired us to do well,” Rupinder told India Today.
The Indian women’s team started the tournament with a 1-5 defeat to eventual gold medallists, the Netherlands. This was followed by a 0-2 defeat to Germany and a 1-4 defeat to Great Britain. However, they followed it up with three consecutive wins, going on to beat gold medal favourites Australia 1-0. This enabled them to qualify for a historic semi-final, which seemed too tough a prospect at one stage.
The men’s hockey team similarly got off to a poor start early on in the tournament, following a 1-7 defeat to Australia. However, they made a similar comeback to win a medal after 41 years.
“We were all sad, disappointed. It is not that we played badly. Even when we did video analysis later, we felt that we actually played pretty well, created a lot of chances. Australia played so well that day, whenever they came into our circle, they scored. We made sure that we stay united. The score was 1-7 but we decided that regardless of what happens next, we are a family, we are united, no one will blame each other. If there are people criticising a player from the outside, ignore them,” said Rupinder.
“We knew this was normal. If we lose, then we get a lot of criticism. So we ignored all of it but we also made sure that we answered all those critics on August 5. We will not say anything till then. Maybe God supported us so much that we ended up winning a medal. Before the quarter-finals and semi-finals as well we were talking about what to do when we trail. During the games there were moments when we were low but there were also times when we played well. That is all part of the game,” he added.
“Against Germany, we were thinking even if they score, we have to keep the same plan. They were leading by two goals, then we scored one, then another, then took the lead. The best thing was that the team never gave up, we kept believing in the strategy we had. Those are the gutsy games that shows if the players can stand up and take the team forward and in that match we all stood together. We were so close (to the medal) that we simply did not want to lose it, don’t know when we will get that chance again or if we will get it at all or not. We gave it our all,” concluded Rupinder.
