Today is certainly a big day for Indian hockey and its fans as the Indian men’s hockey team has broken the 41 years old jinx and won a medal in the Tokyo Olympics. The Indian team defeated the German hockey team by 5-4 in a thrilling encounter and won the Bronze medal for the country. With this, we can now hope that glorious days of Indian hockey will be back as last time the Indian hockey team won a medal at Olympics was in 1980 when they won Gold for the nation. Hockey has given us 11 medals till date out of which 8 are gold.
Manpreet Singh is the skipper of the Indian hockey team and it won’t be wrong to say that the team has performed well under his captaincy in the last four years as it won Asia Cup in 2017 and Asian Champions Trophy in 2018. The Indian hockey team also reached the finals of the FIH Series in 2019 and quarterfinals of the 2018 World Cup.
The victory is also special considering the fact that there was a time when the Indian team was down by 3-1 but they made a strong comeback and won the match by 5-4. The Indian women’s team will also play a match against Great Britain for winning the bronze medal and it will really be like a dream come true if the Indian women’s hockey team wins the bronze too.
The Indian Twitterati soon reacted with congratulatory tweets and words of praises for the Indian hockey team. The Indian President and Prime Minister along with other ministers and celebrities congratulated the Indian hockey team for their wonderful achievement.
Here are the tweets:
President of India Ram Nath Kovind:
Congratulations to our men's hockey team for winning an Olympic Medal in hockey after 41 years. The team showed exceptional skills, resilience & determination to win. This historic victory will start a new era in hockey and will inspire the youth to take up and excel in the sport
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) August 5, 2021
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi:
प्रफुल्लित भारत! प्रेरित भारत! गर्वित भारत!
टोक्यो में हॉकी टीम की शानदार जीत पूरे देश के लिए गर्व का क्षण है।
ये नया भारत है, आत्मविश्वास से भरा भारत है।
हॉकी टीम को फिर से ढेरों बधाई और शुभकामनाएं। 🏑 #Tokyo2020
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 5, 2021
Historic! A day that will be etched in the memory of every Indian.
Congratulations to our Men’s Hockey Team for bringing home the Bronze. With this feat, they have captured the imagination of the entire nation, especially our youth. India is proud of our Hockey team. 🏑
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 5, 2021
Naveen Patnaik:
Brilliant in Blue 👏
Congratulations Indian Men’s #Hockey Team on the spectacular victory to give us an Olympic medal after 41 long years. This historic win at #Tokyo2020 will inspire generation of sportspersons. All the very best for future. #Cheer4India @thehockeyindia— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) August 5, 2021
Yogi Adityanath:
आज टोक्यो ओलंपिक में भारतीय पुरुष हॉकी टीम ने ऐतिहासिक प्रदर्शन कर कांस्य पदक जीता है। आज की सफलता ने भारतीय हॉकी के इतिहास में एक स्वर्णिम अध्याय को जोड़ा है।
'टीम इंडिया' की इस अविस्मरणीय उपलब्धि पर पूरे देश को गर्व है।
हार्दिक बधाई 'टीम इंडिया'।
जय हिन्द!
— Yogi Adityanath (मोदी का परिवार) (@myogiadityanath) August 5, 2021
आज 05 अगस्त की ऐतिहासिक तिथि को एक इतिहास और बन गया…
'टीम इंडिया', जय हिन्द!
— Yogi Adityanath (मोदी का परिवार) (@myogiadityanath) August 5, 2021
Rahul Gandhi:
Congratulations to Indian Men’s Hockey Team! This is a big moment- the whole country is proud of your achievement.
Well-deserved victory! #Olympics
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 5, 2021
Anurag Thakur:
A BILLION CHEERS for INDIA 🇮🇳!
Boys, you’ve done it !
We can’t keep calm !#TeamIndia 🥉!Our Men’s Hockey Team dominated and defined their destiny in the Olympic history books today, yet again !
We are extremely proud of you!#Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/n78BqzcnpK
— Anurag Thakur (मोदी का परिवार) (@ianuragthakur) August 5, 2021
Shah Rukh Khan:
Wow!! Indian Men’s Hockey Team Congratulations. Resilience and skill at its peak. What an exciting match.
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) August 5, 2021
Sachin Tendulkar:
Congratulations to each & every member of the hockey contingent on winning the #Bronze for India!
A fantastic hard fought win…The penalty corner save by Sreejesh in the dying moments of the game was amazing.👏🏻
Entire 🇮🇳 is immensely proud!#Hockey #Tokyo2020 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/7Rtko9kS63
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 5, 2021
Suresh Raina:
Heartiest Congratulations to the Indian Men’s hockey team! We are super proud of your efforts & this victory will forever be cherised! #Hockey #Olympics #Tokyo2020 🙌 pic.twitter.com/OxLqRfney0
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) August 5, 2021
Virender Sehwag:
Chak De Fattey ! Burraaah
A landmark day for @TheHockeyIndia
After being down 3-1, INDIA fights back to win the bronze medal match 5-3, a first Olympic medal in #Hockey after 40 years. Mazaa aa gaya #IndvsGer pic.twitter.com/0T3ssVPnRG— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 5, 2021
Gautam Gambhir:
Forget 1983, 2007 or 2011, this medal in Hockey is bigger than any World Cup! #IndianHockeyMyPride 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/UZjfPwFHJJ
— Gautam Gambhir (Modi Ka Parivar) (@GautamGambhir) August 5, 2021
Shreyas Iyer:
Terrific achievement and one for the history books! What a wonderful team! Congratulations boys 🇮🇳👏 pic.twitter.com/CArtZVH4LF
— Shreyas Iyer (@ShreyasIyer15) August 5, 2021
Anil Kumble:
Inspirational win by #MensHockeyTeam Congratulations 🎉 #MEDAL for India #Bronze #Olympics
— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) August 5, 2021
Ishant Sharma:
What a great morning!! Superb win!!
Breaking the streak after 41 years, that’s a marvellous moment!! We are proud of you, congratulations boys!!👏👏👏
Jai Hind!!🇮🇳 #Hockey #Tokyo2020 #IndianHockey #CheerForIndia #TokyoOlympics #Olympics pic.twitter.com/Io95DBtA1a
— Ishant Sharma (@ImIshant) August 5, 2021
Harbhajan Singh:
Congratulations 🇮🇳 . Bronze in Hockey after 41 yrs . What a game. Proud of Indian Hockey. @TheHockeyIndia @Olympics pic.twitter.com/JkJVZYWNp3
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) August 5, 2021
Wasim Jaffer:
The 16 who scripted history:
Manpreet, Sreejesh, Harmanpreet, Rupinder, Surender, Amit, Birendra, Hardik, Vivek, Nilakanta, Sumit, Shamsher, Dilpreet, Gurjant, Lalit, Mandeep.
Remember them, cherish them,
tell your children about them. Let them inspire a generation🇮🇳 #indvsger pic.twitter.com/7ykehC46gC— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) August 5, 2021
Pragyan Ojha:
Congratulations to our men’s hockey team! The wait is finally over. #believe #Hockey #Bronze pic.twitter.com/2THC7EFmus
— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) August 5, 2021
Navdeep Saini:
Historic Day! Congratulations @TheHockeyIndia for Bronze Medal 🥉 #TokyoOlympics #Hockey @manpreetpawar07 @16Sreejesh pic.twitter.com/RunvP6lDUR
— Navdeep Saini (@navdeepsaini96) August 5, 2021
Venkatesh Prasad:
Four decades..that is the wait India has had to win a Olympic medal in #Hockey . Just makes realise the sweetness of this victory.
Our boy's have done it. Should be a Watershed moment for the next gen. @TheHockeyIndia #IndvsGer pic.twitter.com/2EbnZbbfUz— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) August 5, 2021
Krunal Pandya:
What a team! What character shown! Congratulations to our Hockey team 🇮🇳🥉 pic.twitter.com/6O4eZgWyhz
— Krunal Pandya (@krunalpandya24) August 5, 2021
Harmanpreet Kaur:
41 years was a long wait . 🥉
Well done boys @manpreetpawar07 and Team . You’ve been stunning on the field .
We are all so proud of you .
Jai Hind 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/YZgAevDYaE— Harmanpreet Kaur (@ImHarmanpreet) August 5, 2021
Vijender Singh:
Well done boys 🇮🇳
— Vijender Singh (@boxervijender) August 5, 2021
Mahesh Bhupathi:
Lion Hearts !!!! can’t say enough about the attitude , first coming back and then holding on . Congrats @TheHockeyIndia on making history. Truly emotional moment for the country. #allthatglittersisnotgold #Olympics
— Mahesh Bhupathi (@Maheshbhupathi) August 5, 2021
Abhinav Bindra:
Also a massive congratulations to all the those who supported the sports development over the last decade. @CMO_Odisha ‘s contribution has been immense so has the constant support of @Media_SAI , @TheHockeyIndia and the vision shown by @kukubatra57
— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) August 5, 2021
The Chief Minister of the Indian state Odisha needs to be mentioned specially as he and his government pitched in to help Indian hockey when it was going through a crisis. In 2018, the official sponsor of Indian hockey Sahara pulled out and the Indian hockey teams were left with no sponsors which meant no competitive games for the Indian hockey teams. It was then that the Odisha government headed by Naveen Patnaik decided to sponsor both the Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams for five years and stuck a Rs. 100 crore deal with Indian hockey.
Naveen Patnaik used to play hockey in his school days and he was the goal keeper of his team when he used to study in Doon School, Dehradun.
Congratulations to the Indian hockey men’s team, we are proud of you!