A clinical India today defeated Belgium 2-1 in the summit clash to reclaim the title after a long gap of 15 year.
Harjeet thanked his teammates for the superb show and complemented the packed Major Dyan Chand Astroturf stadium here for support throughout the tournament.
"I would like to thank all the players who aimed to win this trophy. Everybody has put in a lot of hardwork under discipline. We all had one aim and we thankfully managed to achieve that today," an emotional Harjeet said at the post-match press conference.
Harjeet said they approached the match as any other game and just concentrated on performing their duties on the turf.
"We all knew what we have to do in the field, everyone knew their duties. We just concentrated on that and played simple hockey. We played the final like a final."
"We were leading by two goals and our planning was to sit back and defend and rely on counters. We played according to our plan. Every player put in energy," he said.
"In April 2014, I had said that we are going to win the trophy, you can ask these boys," he said.
"Today's heroes are the players and I won't take the limelight. These are 18 golden gems of India and today is their day."
Chief coach of the senior men's team Roelant Oltmans, who was the manager of the junior side here, said the Indian colts played near perfect hockey today, which we desired from the boys in a big match.
Belgium coach Jeroen Baart said the crowd support did make a difference today.
"India started really well. Our boys didn't handle the crowd and the atmosphere really well. They (India) were pretty fast. After the initial stages we became more patient and that gave us a little bit of momentum but they scored another goal," he said.
"I am very proud of the boys they played in the second half. They adjusted to the crowd pretty well. They were patient and didn't try to force themselves," he said.
"But it was not very easy to play India in India at such a fantastic atmosphere. Today we weren't good enough to beat India in India.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
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