Beating Great Britain 3-1 in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Indian men’s hockey team reached the Olympic semifinals. The victory becomes historic because it was back in 1972, when Indian hockey team had qualified for semifinals of the Olympics. While the nation is busy celebrating this proud moment, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh tried to ruin the same. While congratulating the team, Amarinder invoked the regional card and highlighted the name of three players who belonged to Punjab.
Alexa, please play Chak De India 🇮🇳🎶#IndiaKaGame #HaiTayyar #Tokyo2020 #TeamIndia #TokyoTogether #StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites #WeAreTeamIndia #Hockey pic.twitter.com/Kx6dd54fLt
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 1, 2021
As soon as the news broke out that Indian men’s hockey team has made it to the semi-final, Punjab CM took to twitter to congratulate the team. In his tweet, he said,
“Stellar performance by the Indian Men’s Hockey team at #TokyoOlympics to beat Great Britain by 3-1 & entering Olympic top after 41 years. Happy to note that all 3 goals were scored by Punjab players Dilpreet Singh, GurjantSingh &Hardik Singh. Congratulations…go for Gold!
Stellar performance by the Indian Men’s Hockey team at #TokyoOlympics to beat Great Britain by 3-1 & entering Olympic top 4 after 41 years. Happy to note that all 3 goals were scored by Punjab players Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh & Hardik Singh. Congratulations…go for Gold! 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/MgQiLFOf8K
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 1, 2021
Netizens took to Twitter to slam the Punjab Chief Minister.
Neeraj Kumar Singla tweeted, “Sir, goals saved are as good as goals scored, and a girl from Haryana Savita Punia saved 8 goals. Being an ex army man pl. don’t see regional colors in Team India. As a true nationalist leader say Chak De India.”
Sir, goals saved are as good as goals scored, and a girl from Haryana Savita Punia saved 8 goals. Being an ex armyman pl. don't see regional colors in Team India. As a true nationalist leader say Chak De India 🇮🇳.
— Neeraj Kumar Singla (@NeerajKumarSi20) August 2, 2021
State Secretary, BJP Chandigarh, Tajinder Singh Sran also tweeted, “Very Happy to Note All 3 goals were scored by Indian Players. #TokyoOlympics2020 #hockeyindia.”
Very Happy to Note
All 3 goals were scored by Indian Players 👏#TokyoOlympics2020 #hockeyindia— Tajinder Singh Sran (@TajinderSTS) August 1, 2021
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s hockey team marked its spot in the semifinals of the Olympics for the first time after beating Australia 1-0 in the quarterfinals. The team will have its next face-off with Argentina who beat Germany 3-0 in the quarterfinals match.
Hockey is a team sport in which two teams play against each other, having 10 field players and 1 goalkeeper. The teams try to plot a ball or a puck into the opponent’s goal using a hockey stick. The Indian team has players from different parts of the country like Uttar Pradesh and Kerala other than Punjab.
Amarinder went against the spirit of sportsmanship and thus, got a deserved lesson from the netizens. He needs to learn that if any Indian player wins the Olympics, it should be a matter of proud and not become a topic for petty politics. Additionally, he has served the Indian Armed Forces and thus, should refrain from such statements because people expect more from him.
oh well! the celebration didn’t last long did it… players from 11.46m nation literally walked over players of 1.366 billion lol… shame on the nation, their inept sports authorities and players…