NEW DELHI: Forty-six years ago, on this day in 1975, the Indian men’s hockey team lifted the maiden World Cup trophy. The Indian team scripted history after registering a thrilling win 2-1 over arch-rival Pakistan on March 15 in the final of the mega event.
The illustrious feather in the hockey team’s cap was added when Ashok Kumar, son of the legendary player Dhyan Chand netted the match-winning goal.
Hockey India remembered the glorious achievement and shared the picture of the winning team with the World Cup on Monday. “46 years ago #OnThisDay in 1975, the Indian Men’s Hockey Team brought home the maiden World Cup Title!” Hockey India tweeted. Meanwhile, the men’s team resumed their competitive hockey post coronavirus pandemic on a high. The COVID-19 had restricted the team to nearly ten months of training in a bio-secure environment in SAI Centre, Bengaluru.
In the four-match tour to Europe, India secured a 6-1 win and 1-1 draw against Germany in Krefeld. They followed this up with a 1-1 draw and 3-2 win against Great Britain in Antwerp, Belgium.
The Indian men’s hockey coach Graham Reid has expressed satisfaction following his team’s successful outing in Europe where they remained unbeaten. “I’m pretty happy with the performance; I’m very happy with the way the tour was — from point of view of getting some international competition. That was really important,” said Reid in an official Hockey India release.
The experience, Reid feels will be critical in their lead up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“We go back to Bengaluru from here and will be training there for a few weeks before we set out on another tour of our FIH Pro League matches in Argentina. I believe the next few months leading up to Tokyo are going to be busy for us with competition and some training in between where we will work on the things we need to. The Olympic year has well and truly started now for us and we need to accelerate our learnings,” he said. (ANI)
