Tokyo Olympics: Privileged to have played a part, says India's hockey coach

Tokyo - India's Australian coach Graham Reid says it's a fantastic feeling after the team won the bronze medal

The Indian men’s hockey team coach Graham Reid on Thursday said he feels “privileged” to be a part of the game’s revival in India after the side clinched their first Olympic medal in 41 years by beating Germany in the bronze play-off in Tokyo.

The 57-year-old Australian, who was a part of Australia’s silver-winning team in the 1992 Barcelona Games, took over as India coach in 2019 and has obsessively talked about pursuing a process and investing in youth to get the results at a big stage like the Olympics.

“It is a fantastic feeling, it has come after a lot of sacrifices that the whole group has made,” Reid said referring to the time the players spent away from their families and in some cases, battling Covid-19 as well.

“It takes a long time to get where these athletes have gotten. All the sacrifices that go unseen,” he added.

India were 1-3 down in the match and Reid said one of the things that has been worked on during his stint was to never lose hope of a comeback.

“Before the game I asked the guys to make sure they bring the next level if something happens, for example, if you are down, you need to bring the next level of play and they did that very well,” Reid explained.

“(It is) never over until it is over. It’s always easy to say you should be doing this or that but there are lots of things that go on,” he added, when asked about the penalty corner that India conceded just six seconds from the final hooter.