Afterthe glorious victory of the 'Men in Blue' in Tokyo Olympics, Indian hockeycaptain Manpreet Singh's mother is eagerly awaiting her son's arrival tocelebrate his Chak De India moment with 'aloo ka parathas'.
ForHardik Singh, who scored his second goal to reduce Germany's lead to 3-2, hiscar will bear an Olympic symbol. "My son is very fond of 'aloo kaparathas' and 'aloo ki sabzi' made by me," an emotional Manjit Kaur said.
Shesaid his son really worked hard to reach the Olympics podium from this smallvillage. "I just spoke to him ahead of the match and wished him goodluck," she said. "Of course, I told them several times that theyshould not take the German team lightly," Kaur added.
Manpreet,who also played in 2012 and 2016 Olympics, was delighted to see his brother andtwo pet dogs, while pointing towards them -- Sam and Rio.
"ThoughI am in constant touch with him over video calls, I am awaiting to hug him withthe medal in the neck," she said, adding, 'His son likes to drink a lot ofmilk".
With10 of its players in the men's hockey team that defeated Germany 5-4 to win thebronze medal and finishing on the podium after 41 years, Punjab sawcelebrations on Thursday morning bursting crackers and beating 'dhols' with'bhangra' in full swing.
Manpreet'snative village Mithapur, just six km from here, has two more players in the Olympicssquad. They are Mandeep Singh and Varun Kumar, who scored India's opening goalagainst Argentina.
Afterdefeating Germany, Kumar called his family through a video call and expressedgratitude for supporting the team by offering prayers.
Mithapurhas produced six Olympians -- Swarup Singh (1952 Helsinki Olympics), KulwantSingh (1972 Olympics), Pargat Singh (1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics) and threecurrent players.
Itsnearby Khusropur village has 22-year-old midfielder Hardik Singh in the squad.
Respondingto India's victory over Germany, Mandeep's father Ravinder Singh said,"India has won medal after many years. I am speechless over what Indiaachieved today."
Afterthe tremendous win, the car of Hardik Singh will now bear an Olympics logo.
"Whenhe got selected for the Olympics, his younger brother asked him if he could getan Olympic logo affixed on the car. At that time he replied he will let himknow at an appropriate time. Now the time has come to fix a logo on it,"remarked Hardik's mother Kanwaljeet Kaur, who has purchased a gold ring in theshape of Olympic rings to gift his son.
Belongingto a family of hockey players, Hardik's father Varinderpreet Singh is aSuperintendent of Police with Punjab Police and his grandfather Pritam Singh wasthe former coach.
Pritam'syounger brother Gurmail Singh was part of the Indian hockey team that won the1980 Moscow Olympics gold, the last medal to come home.
Describingthe hockey bronze worth its weight in gold, an elated Chief Minister AmarinderSingh congratulated the team by tweeting: "A tremendous achievement to befinishing on the podium after 41 years. The hockey bronze is worth its weightin gold."
Inthe 18-member squad, the players from Punjab are vice-captain HarmanpreetSingh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Shamsher Singh andSimranjeet Singh.
StateSports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi announced an award of Rs 1 crore for eachof the 10 players from the state.
"Onthis historic day, I'm delighted to announce the cash award of Rs 1 crore each.We await your return to celebrate the much deserving medal in theOlympics."