Paris Olympics 2024: Former India Hockey Captain Manpreet Singh's Brave Story

Manpreet Singh’s life has never been easy. He had to play hockey through shattering life experiences such as a poverty-stricken childhood, a family struggling to make ends meet, and an allegation that burns his soul to date. (More Sports News)

Manpreet, whose CV includes an Olympic bronze (Tokyo) and two Asian Games gold medals (2014, 2022), has those scarring moments to draw strength from when he walks onto the field in the Indian jersey in the Paris Olympics later this month.

It will be his fourth Olympics, something the 32-year-old never imagined to achieve when he started his journey from the m﷽odest lanes of Mithapur, a town in Punjab.

“I never thought that I w🐠ould be able to play fourℱ Olympics. It is every player's dream to play in the Olympics and win medals.

“I coಌnsider myself very lucky that this is my fourth Olympics,” Manpreet told PTI Bhasha.

Manpreet, who marsha꧑lled India’s charge to bronze in Tokyo, wants to give a shot at changing the colour 𓃲of the medal that the team won in Japan.

“I am going (to play) as if this is my last Olympics and I have to give my best. But I haven’t thought about hanging the boots as my focus is on the Paris games,” said.

Manpreet, whꦰo made his debut for India in 2011 as a 19-year-old.

But in sports, as it often happens in life, a low closely ta🧜ils a high. Manpree💯t knows this axiom better than anyone else.

After the Tokyo glory, Sjoerd Marijne, the former India coach, alleged that Manpreet aꦦsked a player to underperform so that his friends could get in the team during t🎐he 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Both the men’s and wome🍰n's teams jointly denied the allegation, stating that the Dutchman did so to publicise his book.

But the wounds are still raw.

“It was the most difficult phase for me. I could never even think of such things. I w🤪as broken and lost faith in everyone. I spoke to Sreejesh (India goalkeeper) with whom I share everything.

“My mother also encouraged me to keep playing to fulfil my fath🔜er's dream and the whole team supported me,” he choked with emotion.

Manpreet valued the support of his family, and teammates during the days of str⛦uggle, and he drew a parallel from the world of cricket.

Hardik Pandya was booed relentlessly and was subjected to merciless online trolls after he replaced Rohit Sharma as Mumbai Indians’ captain in the IPL.

But the boos 📖turned to cheers after the 🐷all-rounder played a vital role in India’s triumphant run in the T20 World Cup in the Americas.

“In bad times, the support of the family and team is very import💜ant because the player finds himself very lonely. When the team stands together, it gives a lot of encouragement and helps in making a comeback.

“We h🐎ave seen Hardik Pandꦯya making a great comeback in cricket recently,” said Manpreet, who was the flag bearer of the Indian contingent at Tokyo Olympics along with Mary Kom.

However, for Manpreet, ꦚas someone who has experienced struggles very early in his life, the 13-year journey with the Indian hockey team is nothing short of a dream.

“When I look back, it seems like a dream. I come from🃏 a humble background where we have struggled for basic needs. My father used to work as a carpenter in Dubai, but he had to return because of medical reasons.

“My mother struggled a lot and both my brothers had to leave hockey because of financial pr💦oblems,” said Manpreet, who braved the death of his father to rejoi🌃n the team to score a goal against Pakistan in the 2016 Azlan Shah Cup.

In Paris, Manpreet will not💟 be the Indian skipper but for him that hardly matters.

“Even if I am not the captain now, it does not make any difference. Every playe🐼r has his own role in hockey. The effort is to take everyone along.

“Being a senior, we have to inspire the youngsters,” said Manpreet, who idolises fꦜormer Indian captain Pargat Singh, a Mithapur native.

The 💜32-year-old said their preparation for the global extravaganza is🎶 well on track.

“'Bef﷽ore the Tokyo Olympics, we spent maximum time together due to Covid which resulted ꦓin excellent team bonding.

“We will con♒tinue similarly because 11 players are the same who w🦋ere in Tokyo. We are sharing our experiences with the five debutants,” he said.

Manpreet, who wears jersey number seven like his꧃ favourite players MS Dhoni, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckhaꦍm, said it would be naive to take any team lightly in the Olympics.

“Our pool is tough and we cannot tak🐠e any team lightly. New Zealand has defeated us in the World Cup and Ireland has recently defeated Belgium. Our focus is on ourselves ꦦas to how we can execute our strategy,” he said.

Manpreet hoped his team could coဣnvert those half chances against strong rivals.

“We get fewer chances against good teams but converting those 50:50 chances is the mark of a c🍌ham꧒pion. We are well prepared to do that in Paris,” he said.