'They Really Made India Proud': Air India's Special Gesture Surprises Indian Men's Hockey Team

The Indian men's hockey repeated their Tokyo 2020 achievement as they won the Bronze medal at Paris Olympics after beating Spain 2-1. This extended India's historic dominance on hockey in the Olympics with a record extending 13th medal. 

The success of Indian Men's Hockey team gave joy to the entire nation and as the team returned home from Paris, the Air India flight paid them a special tribute on their journey back home. 

Air India's special tribute for Indian men's hockey team 

As the Indian men's hockey team boarded the flight, they were greeted with a special announcement by the pilot.  He thanked the Indian team for bringing home a second consecutive Bronze at the Olympics and announced to all passengers, “They really made India Proud”.

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Post the announcement by the pilot, the entire flight erupted into a huge round of applause as the Indian hockey team was pleasantly surprised. As the flight burst out into a huge round of applause the players soaked in the cheers. 

Once they landed in India the players were greeted with a huge reception as they made their way out of the airport. 

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How India won their second consecutive Bronze?

kipper Harmanpreet Singh rose to the occasion once again with twin strikes as the Indian hockey team beat Spain 2-1 to claim a second consecutive bronze medal at the Olympics and give a perfect send-off to veteran custodian P R Sreejesh here on Thursday.

The Indians recovered from the heart-wrenching 2-3 defeat to Germany in the semifinal and played positive hockey for most part of the match to come out trumps.

Harmanpreet (30th, 33rd minutes) converted two penalty corners after Spain skipper Marc Miralles gave his side the lead against the run of play in the 18th minute from a penalty stroke.

(With PTI Inputs)