As I was scrolling through you tube one relaxed evening, a black and white video which appeared on the side suddenly caught my attention, since black and white usually indicates some nostalgic recording from the archives. On opening the video to my surprise and delight it was the video of the highlights of the 1975 world cup hockey final which India won beating Pakistan in the finals. This brought back a gush of memories of that magical summer afternoon on 15th march 1975, at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when India was crowned King of the hockey world and which I consider to be India’s finest sporting hour and triumph even more than the 1983 cricket world cup triumph.
I have always been an avid follower of Indian football and hockey right from my childhood days and feel immensely proud and happy when team India does well. At the other end of the spectrum my mood can plummet to low debts of frustration and sadness when they don’t and this was all the more evident during my childhood schooling days.
First a brief background of Indian hockey’s glorious past. India won its first Olympic hockey gold medal in 1928 and until 1956 remained unbeaten with 6 Olympic hockey gold medals. In 1960, Pakistan ended India’s gold medal run. Much later in 1980, India under Captain Bhaskaran at last succeeded in winning gold at the boycott driven Moscow Olympics in which most of the top teams stayed away from. From than onwards it was a downward swing with India finishing 12th at the 2012 Olympics and 8th at the 2016 Olympics. Pakistan won the inaugural hockey world cup in 1971 and in the 1973 edition, India lost in the finals to the Netherlands in the tie breaker. Indian hockey legend Dyan Chand was so good that officials even dismantled his hockey stick to see if it had a magnet inside!!
As a young lad of 10 years studying in the 5th grade, I passionately followed the 1975 world cup via the radio commentary and the local daily. India was clubbed in Pool A along with England, Australia, Argentina, Ghana and West Germany. They beat England 2-1, Ghana 7-0, drew with Australia 1-1 when a shock defeat to lowly Argentina seemed to severely jeopardize their semifinal chances. However they regrouped in time to defeat West Germany 3-1 and top the pool by virtue of better goal average over West Germany who too qualified. From pool B Pakistan the toppers and second placed Malaysia qualified for the semifinals.
Half the Indian team was composed of Sardars, namely Captain Ajit Pal Singh, Surjit Singh, Varinder Singh, Mohinder Singh, Haracharan Singh and the youngest member of the team Onkar Singh. The other members were goalkeepers Leslie Fernandes and Ashok Diwan, Michael Kindo, B.P.Govinda, V.J.Philips, Ashok Kumar, Aslam Sher Khan, Shivaji Pawar, P.E.Kaliah and H.J.S Chimni. My personal favourites were goalkeeper Leslie Fernandes, Captain Ajit Pal Singh, full back Michael Kindo and dashing forward Ashok Kumar son of the legendary hockey wizard Dyan Chand who scored India’s winning goal in the final against Pakistan. India played average to brilliant hockey during the group stage. Goalkeeper Leslie Fernandes time and again saved the team with his daring saves. Michael Kindo thwarted most of the opposition goal bound moves, Ashok Kumar with his opportunistic runs and Captain Ajit Pal Singh with his motivating and leadership qualities were outstanding.
In the semifinals India met the hosts Malaysia. That day was declared a National holiday in Malaysia and the Indians settled there were instructed to support the Malaysian team. Backed by a vociferous, partisan crowd Malaysia were ahead 2-1 with a few minutes of play remaining and India seemed on their way out. Indian coach Balbir Singh Senior ,replaced Michael Kindo with the much maligned Aslam Sher Khan, threw up his hands in despair muttering ”Only God can save us”. However radio commentator Jasdev Singh the perennial optimist made a prophetic statement,”Aslam Sher Khan will be India’s savior today’.’ 8 minutes from time India earned a penalty corner. B.P Govinda pushed, Ajit Pal Singh stopped and left the ball to Aslam Sher Khan who executed his trademark favourite shot, a precise right to the goalkeeper’s right and India were level 2-2!!! The match went into extra time, and India scored the winner to qualify for the finals with joy and relief written all over the player’s and coach’s faces!!!India were in the finals and to play Pakistan who had already qualified thrashing West Germany 5-1 in the other semifinal. The Pakistanis were silently praying for a Malaysian victory as they did not want to face India in the finals!!
Come the great day and millions of Indians praying hard for an Indian win. With all the excitement, I fell sick with fever and conveniently missed school to listen to the radio commentary of the final. Mine being a full day school, I would otherwise not have been able to do so!!!
Pakistan took the lead around the 25th minutes through Zaheed Sheikh who slammed the ball in the far corner post after a fast mazy run. In disgust, I switched off the radio and tried to sleep. After more than half an hour with trembling hands, praying fervently all the while [this must have been the hardest I ever prayed in my school life!!!], I switched on the radio to find that India had equalized through Surjit Singh via a penalty corner. From then onwards it was nail biting tension as both the umpires G. Vijayanathan from Malaysia and A. Renaud from France were kept on their toes as the ball swung dramatically from one end to the other. The equalizer seemed to have rejuvenated the Indians and the Pakistanis seemed to be tiring out. Goalkeeper Ashok Diwan made some outstanding out of the blues saves. Inside right Ashok Kumar and inside left Govinda played brilliant attacking hockey, also falling back to defend when required and counter attack. Aslam Sher Khan defended robustly as if his life depended on it. And at last the precious priceless winning though controversial goal by Ashok Kumar, son of the legendary Dyan Chand, about 5 minutes from time. In a goal mouth melee, his shot hit the right post before going out but umpire Vijayanathan maintained that it had crossed the goal line amidst vociferous protests from the Pakistan players including their captain Islauddin Siddique. Radio commentator Jasdev’s Singh’s voiced croaked comically and crossed the decibel limits with the excitement. The last 5 minutes were played out and India held their nerves to be crowned Kings of the hockey world. I remember not getting sleep all night with sheer happiness. Early morning next day I rushed to buy the English daily and saw the screaming headlines ”India’s finest hour”
Sadly the very next year in the Montreal Olympics, India fielding the same team finished a dismal eight. The Europeans realizing that they could not cope with the artistry, dribbling skills and stick-work of the Asian powerhouses shrewdly managed to get the hockey playing surface changed from grass to Astroturf, changing the nature of the game from touch, dribble and skill to power and stamina, a definite advantage to them. Indian hockey was never the same after that at least result wise.
Added to that, our hockey greats past and present have never got their due recognition from the Government or the Indian Hockey Federation in a nation obsessed with cricket. There are even horror stories like one Olympic hockey player from Mumbai had to sell his Olympic gold medal to earn some money, another was found working in a stone quarry to make ends meet. Is this the way to treat our sports heroes especially in our national sport hockey?
Lately signs of a revival seem to be in the making with India finishing second at the Champions trophy held at Breda, Netherlands narrowly losing to Australia in the tie breaker in the finals. The team’s game, body language and energy levels seem refreshingly different under new coach Harcharan Singh. Let’s fervently hope that the Golden days of Indian hockey will soon be back!!!
Edgar Menezes
Margao, Goa