Hardik Singh and his Paris Olympics bronze medal.© Instagram
The Indian hockey team has been on a slow but steady rise since winning the bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games. At the 2024 Paris Olympics too, India played brilliantly till the semi-finals but faltered in the last four stage. However, India rose to the challenge in the bronze medal match to beat Spain 2-1. In the recently concluded Asian Champions Trophy, they won the gold medal, beating China in the final. If the Indian hockey team continues in the same vein, a gold medal at the Olympics may be a reality too at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Before that, let's focus on what happened after the Paris Olympics. Hardik Singh was an important member of that squad and has an issue with the Olympic medal itself.
"The medal had iron from the Eiffel Tower, we were told, I hope its true. They had one job of making a good quality medal which is not the case. No problem. Still, I would say this is my biggest achievement," Hardik Singh said on Oversharing With The Jhumroo podcast.
What was the first feeling you had when you held the medal in your hand?
"I am used to the feeling," he joked. "I have also made tattoo of the Olympic rings. I have kept it incomplete. My wish is when I win the gold medal next time, I will complete it."
Recently, India's hockey midfielder Hardik Singh revealed how a few of his teammates once found fans showing more interest in clicking selfies with social media personality Dolly Chaiwala while failing to even recognise them.
"I saw it with my own eyes, at the airport. Harmanpreet (Singh), I, Mandeep (Singh); there were 5-6 of us. Dolly chaiwala was also there. People were getting themselves clicked with him and did not recognize us. We started looking at each other (feeling awkward)," said the 26-year-old Hardik on a podcast.
"Harmanpreet has scored more than 150 goals, Mandeep has more than 100 field goals," he asserted, painting a disappointing picture of the country's obsession with internet stars.