Amritsar, August 11 – The Indian Hockey team was accorded a warm welcome on reaching Shri Guru Ramdas ji International Airport by the Member Parliament Gurjeet Singh Aujla and Punjab Cabinet Minister Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal here today.
On reaching the airport, the team went to Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden temple) where they were received by SGPC officials. The ten players who paid obeisance at the Golden Temple all belonged to Punjab whereas five belonged to Amritsar.
During visit to Sri Harmandir Sahib the family members of the Hockey team were also seen enormously happy while seeing the winning team here.
All the Blue turbaned players hugged their family members when they reached outside the Golden Temple from Airport.
Team took a full round of marbled periphery around the water pool of Golden Temple before entering in the sanctum sanctorum where they paid obeisance. Thereafter, team also paid obeisance at the highest Sikh temporal seat Akal Takht.
Due to Sunday, there was heavy footfall of devotees in the Sri Harmandir Sahib , but the team was provided fool proof security by the SGPC task force. The visiting devotees were seen making mobile selfies with players who happily obliged everybody who asked them for a mobile selfie.
Talking to media, Indian hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh said, “ We are here to thanks the Waheguru (Almighty) the unseen power which has given us the enormous internal strength in the playground to maintaining stamina which led us to victory to clinch medal for the nation. In future in the coming Olympic in 2028 the team will do more hard practice to change the color of the present medal in Gold with the Grace of Waheguru”.
“It was a unique, inexpressible feeling when the team won the bronze medal the Indian flag was seen everywhere in the limelight at Foreign land in Paris”, said emotional team captain Harmanpreet Singh.
Another player Germanjeet Singh said the team was thankful to SGPC which accorded a warm welcome here that boosted up the morale of the team as special honor was accorded to the entire team by the SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami.
Later the team was honored by the SGPC president Dhami in the information centre of the Sri Harmandir Sahib with a gold plated replica of the Sri Harmandir Sahib, set of Sikh religious books and shawls to each team player.
Dhami said that it was matter of honor for the State of Punjab when Punjabi guys brining medal for the nations which brought the Punjab in limelight in Foreign land as it was a matter of pride for the Sikh community since all Sikh players gave wonderful and unmatchable performance in the playground while securing a bronze medal with a 2-1 victory over Spain at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in Colombes on Thursday in 2024 Paris Olympics.
