The Indian hockey teams have had a dream campaign in the 2020 Tokyo Games. While the men’s team won their first medal in 41 years in the form of a bronze, the women’s team reached the semifinals for the first time ever. While the latter lost out on a bronze to Great Britain on Friday, they have improved by leaps and bounds, according to ex-Olympians.

Mid-day.com spoke with Maneyapanda Muthanna Somaya, better known as MM Somaya, who played as right-half and was a part of the gold medal-winning Olympic hockey team in 1980. He went on to represent India for the next two Olympics at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and the 1988 Seoul Games, where he was captain. Somaya reflects on the similarities between the recent men’s bronze medal match and the triumphant 1980 final. He also dwells on the kind of technical challenges and mental pressures both the men's and women's teams likely overcame, which make their achievements especially significant.