He had to endure a few sleepless nights as he dealt with the trauma of missing a crucial Olympics semifinal, but Amit Rohidas is grateful to his teammates for not even making him feel left out after his red card resulted in the Indian team having to play with 10 men for 42 minutes in the hockey quarterfinal against Great Britain. The Indian national hockey team secured a consecutive bronze medal, their 13th Olympic hockey medal, despite the setback of Rohidas’ red card in the quarterfinal against Great Britain, which led to his suspension for the semifinals.
“I really missed the semi-final because of the suspension. It was such a crucial match,” the 31-year-old India defender told PTI in an exclusive interview during the team’s honours ceremony at India House in Paris on Saturday.
“The whole country and my teammates never made me feel like an outsider or sidelined. I was completely focused on our next game.” The Indian first striker was penalised in the 17th minute of the quarter-final for accidentally hitting British striker Will Calnan in the face with his stick.
Although the referee did not initially find any serious offence on the field, the decision was changed to a red card after a video review.
This resulted in Rohidas being suspended for one match and thus missing the semi-final against Germany, which India narrowly lost.
Speaking about the incident, Rohidas said, “I don’t know what people are saying outside but I know as a player what I went through. It was not intentional and the referee’s decision is part of the game.” Despite being down to ten men, Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh put up a dogged show and took the match to penalties where his heroics made the difference and led India to the semi-finals of the Hockey Olympics for the second consecutive year.
“It was a great source of pride for me to beat our opponents on penalties despite having only ten players. We showed our fellow countrymen how we can fight despite being outnumbered. We set records not once but twice – when we beat Australia after 52 years and won with ten players,” he said, looking back on the season.
Do you regret not being able to turn the bronze medal into gold or silver at the Tokyo Olympics? “Maybe the colour of the medal would have changed, but that’s fate, you can’t change anything. Fortunately, we are not returning empty-handed. This is our country’s medal.” India started with a lame win over New Zealand in the difficult Group A and got stronger with each game. Their biggest win came in their last league match, beating Australia 3-2.
The bronze medal match against Spain was a fitting farewell for experienced goalkeeper Sreejesh, who played his last international match and thus crowned a perfect performance as India’s “wall”.
“Sreejesh Bhai may not be on the field after his retirement but he will always be there as a guide and mentor. I am sure whoever takes his position under the bar, we will work as a unit as we have done all along. We will follow the same process,” he said.
Rohidas, a key player in the Indian defence, also spoke about the collective leadership within the team.
“There is no single leader in a team. Each of us contributes 16 or 18 leadership roles. We do it together. Our team does not have just one leader.”
“Yes, there is a designated captain, but it is a team game. We all give our input, plan and execute accordingly,” he stressed.
Mike Horn’s Bootcamp: It was an amazing experience
Before the Olympic Games, the team completed a demanding three-day boot camp in Switzerland under the leadership of adventurer Mike Horn, who had already worked for this team before the triumph of MS Dhoni and Co. in 2011 and also helped the German team win the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Rohidas was happy to talk about this experience.
“Accha bhi lag raha tha, aur upar se phaat bhi raha tha. Sab precautions, but agar kuchh ulta pulta ho jaata toh wahan chance nahin hai. (We had taken all safety precautions, but we also freaked out. It was like we were balancing between life and death.)
“A great and incredible three-day camping trip. It may look easy from the outside, but only we knew what we were going through while climbing the cliffs and then descending – up and down – and how to keep our balance. It really toughened and strengthened us mentally,” he recalls.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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