Shamsher Singh at NDTV Yuva event© NDTV
Shamsher Singh was an important member of the Indian hockey team that won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. The Indian hockey team has been on an upward curve since winning the bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games. This time 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.
Shamsher Singh was one of the guests in NDTV Yuva and talked in detail about the journey.
“We were very disappointed after losing the Paris semi-finals but when you are playing in the Olympics, you have to be ready for such situations. You learn a lot from such times. Even though we could not reach the final, our team players supported each other a lot. We were thinking about the bronze medal match after the defeat. All players should move forward taking each other along,” Shamsher Singh said during the NDTV Yuva event.
“I was very disappointed when my last shot in the semi-finals did not go for the goal. But my players supported me a lot. After this we united and focused on the next match. The benefit of which we got in the bronze medal match We did well in the next match and were successful in winning the bronze medal. This moment was the most memorable moment of my career.”
Shamsher also talked about his journey in hockey.
“See, I think every sports person has his own journey. Mine has been there too. I have also been on a journey. I live in a village near the Attari border and I started from there. There was no one in my family who played sports. People used to play hockey in the village. After that, when I was in sixth class, I left home and went to an academy in Amritsar. Then went to Jalandhar from there. There is Shoorjit Academy. While staying there, I took hockey training. Many players from Punjab come from there. All I would say is that when you leave home, it is a big struggle for you. It was the same for me too,” he said.
“Came into the junior team in 2026. But there I could not make it to the World Cup Junior team, that too was a shock for me. From there again I made my debut in the senior team after three years in 2019. My journey started again from there. We won bronze in Tokyo, it was historic for me and all the players of the team. Then now we won the medal in Paris…this was also very special for us. We had won medals in two consecutive Olympics after 52 years.”
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