‘Early Olympics qualification gives preparation time’: Manpreet after Asiad gold and LA 2028 berth
Kakamigahara, Oct 4 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) India’s veteran midfielder Manpreet Singh said early qualification for the 2028 Olympics will give the Indian team extra preparation time ahead of the Los Angeles Games.
India men booked a direct berth to the Olympics after defending their Asian Games gold medal with a stellar 5-1 win over Malaysia in the final at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Kakamigahara on Saturday.
Manpreet, who became the only Indian hockey player to win three Asian Games gold medals, highlighted that the win’s importance extends beyond Asian Games glory. “The Asian Games was an important tournament for us. We have directly qualified for LA (Olympics). So, we don’t have to play the qualifier round, and we can work on ourselves and what we need to work on. Overall, we had a very good performance in all the Asian Games,” Manpreet told IANS after the gold medal win.
India had also qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 too after the Men in Blue had won the Hangzhou Asiad in 2023. That also helped the Indian team get a handful of time for preparation, and they returned with yet another bronze, after having won the third prize during the Tokyo Games 2021. India were the only team to have won a medal at both Tokyo and Paris Olympics, with the other two medallists having changed across the two editions.
The victory also gives India a shot in the arm after having endured a poor World Cup outing in August. The Men in Blue were eighth in the tournament and failed to qualify for the semifinals.
While the men’s team won the Asiad gold, the women’s team also booked a direct place in the LA 2028 after winning a gold at the continental showpiece. The Salima Tete-led side defeated reigning Olympic silver medallists China in the Asiad final by 1-0.
This was the first time that both Indian men and women won the Asian Games gold in the same edition. This was India women’s only second gold medal at the continental event after their only gold victory in the 1982 Games.
