For far too long has Indian hockey promised the sky at the Olympics but crash landed on earth with a thud—be it the historic failure to make it to the 2008 Beijing edition, its wooden-spoon finish at London 2012 or the quarter-final defeat at Rio 2016. However, with a consistently high world ranking of five this time around, a medal seems to be a possibility, feels skipper Manpreet Singh, 27.

In fact, such has been Manpreet's focus on these Games that despite being in a relationship for over six years, he has kept his wedding plans on the back burner. He is planning to tie the knot after the Games "hopefully with a medal around my neck."