The victorious Indian team with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Article by Anand Philar. Article and photo credit Deccan Herald

s we celebrate the Golden Jubilee of India winning the hockey World Cup in 1975, the achievement needs to be put in perspective - the win had a profound impact on the Indian psyche, but the epochal moment was not leveraged to further uplift the profile of hockey. The fact that India have not made even the medal round since then only adds lustre to the historic win in Malaysia.

Fifty years ago, sport was a way of life in India and not a career option. Hockey, floating along merrily on the back of seven gold medals (until another was added in 1980), was as big if not bigger than cricket, boasting of a huge legion of fans.

Even local league, collegiate and inter-school competitions attracted spectators in their hundreds. Media (print) coverage was simply monumental (as compared to these days). Being a hockey player was a matter of pride. The top guns were recognised, revered and worshipped by just about everyone who followed sport in India at that time.

It was in this environment that India, under Ajitpal Singh, won the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. India defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the final, held on March 15, 1975, in front of a capacity crowd at the iconic Merdeka Stadium.

The Indians showed rare character to turn back a one-goal deficit and come through on goals by Surjit Singh and Ashok Kumar, the son of legendary Dhyan Chand.

The achievement triggered euphoria , the likes of which have never been witnessed again. The players were feted like royalty on their return to India.

It was an era when TV was a rarity. There was no cell phone or social media. "Internet" was not part of the popular lexicon. As a college student then in Madras (now Chennai), I, like many others, followed the World Cup on the radio.

We hung on to every word that commentator Jasdev Singh uttered. Our heartbeat was in sync with the modulations of his voice as he described the ebb and flow of the proceedings in his inimitable style. In fact, Jasdevji enjoyed a near cult-figure status and was as popular as the hockey stars themselves! He was the hockey version of renowned commentators of the time, cricket's John Arlott and V. M. Chakrapani.

In the leadup to the World Cup, Ajitpal's Indian team landed in Malaysia, still hurting from the twin disappointments of 1971 (bronze in the inaugural edition) and 1973 (runners-up to Holland after missing a penalty stroke in extra-time). They suffered a shock defeat to Argentina in the league phase but picked up enough points for a semifinal clash with Malaysia.

In a rousing semi-final encounter, India bounced back twice after being in arrears to force extra-time after a 2-2 tie. Shivaji Pawar scored the first equaliser and then full-back Aslam Sher Khan scored from a penalty corner within two minutes after replacing Michael Kindo. In the extra-time that followed, Harcharan Singh struck the match-winner, pouncing on a deflection off a defender's stick.

Pakistan hammered West Germany 5-1 in the other semifinal, to set up a clash with India, the first ever World Cup final between the two giants.

Zahid Sheikh, whose nephew Shahnaz was to become a legendary forward in the years to come, put Pakistan in the front with a 17th minute strike, but Surjit Singh equalised in the 44th minute.

Ashok Kumar scored the match-winner in the 51st minute, which was hotly disputed by the Pakistanis who felt Malaysian umpire G. Vijayanathan had erred in awarding the goal. But the replays of the film the next morning exonerated the umpire.

The 1975 World Cup team, coached by Gurcharan Singh Bodhi, oozed with talent - robust forwards, a tough half-line led by Ajitpal himself, a rugged bunch of defenders backed by rock-solid goalkeepers. It was a complete, wholesome team with the inspirational Balbir Singh Sr. (Dosanjh) as the manager.

1975 was a triumph like no other and even after half-a-century, it still triggers emotions just like it did back in the college days!

Olympic hockey couple Mandeep Singh and Udita Kaur. Photograph credit Hockey India

ockey Olympians Udita Duhan and Mandeep Singh tied the knot on March 21 in Jalandhar. They took the Laavan (wedding vows) at Sri Gurdvara Sahib in Model Town.

The day before, a pre-wedding function was held at Mandeep Singh's residence, where the couple captured memorable moments dressed in traditional attire and hockey jerseys.

Speaking to the media, Udita shared that she and Mandeep first met during the 2018 Asian Games in Bengaluru. Their friendship gradually blossomed into a deeper relationship, eventually leading to their wedding.

Udita was part of India's women's hockey team that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, while Mandeep was part of India's back-to-back bronze medal-winning squads at the 2021 and 2024 Olympics.

Udita played for Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers in the inaugural Women's Hockey India League (HIL), while Mandeep played for Team Gonasika in the Men's HIL.

Mandeep hails from Mithapur village in Jalandhar. In March 2024, he was appointed a DSP in the Punjab Police. Udita hails from Hisar in Hariyana.

Ravinderjit Singh and Davinderjit Kaur, parents of Mandeep, had a fond wish: "We hope that they will bring home two medals from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics."

File photograph of the Kodava Hockey Festival courtesy The Hindu

he silver jubilee edition of the Kodava Hockey Namme (Festival) is being held from 28 March to 27 April, with this year's host family being the Muddandas. The event will be held across three hockey grounds in Madikeri, which is the headquarters of the Kodagu district.

The mixed age/gender tournament began in 1997 as an initiative by Pandanda Kuttappa and Pandanda Kashi, and saw 60 Kodava family teams in the inaugural year. Over the years, the event grew so significantly that it earned a place in the Limca Book of Records as the largest hockey tournament in the world.

This year will see 396 Kodava families participating. The oldest participant in the silver jubilee tournament is 92-year-old Chittiappa, who is turning out for his Annadiyanda family team.

In the lead-up to the tournament, a Grand Torch Run was flagged off on 28 March at the Pandanda Ainmane (ancestral house) in Karada. The festival torch, similar to the Olympic torch, was carried to the traditional Ainmane of the 24 families that have previously hosted the tournament.

The torch covered a distance of 126 km before reaching General Thimayya Circle, for where it was carried in a grand procession of people dressed in traditional attire to the inauguration venue - Field Marshal K. M. Cariappa Ground.

Olympian Anjaparavanda B. Subbaiah received the Festival Torch and lit the ceremonial flame at the hockey arena. Following the lighting of the flame, a flag-hoisting ceremony was held, accompanied by a cultural programme. Traditional Kodava Valaga, Kerala Chande and Dudikottu Paat rhythms that echoed through the venue.

As part of the silver jubilee celebrations, a Hockey5s women's tournament is also being held. 48 women's teams had registered through the first week of April, with entries for the women's tournament closing on 10 April.

Married women have the choice of either playing for their Thamane (father's family team) or Bakemane (husband's family team), while unmarried girls will play for their father's family team.

Kodagu, also known as Coorg, is one of the cradles of Indian hockey, and has produced over 50 national players, including seven Olympians.

Jharkhand win the 15th Sr. Women's National Hockey Championship. Image courtesy Hockey India

he 15th Hockey India Senior Women's National Hockey Championship was held at the Tau Devi Lal Hockey Stadium in Panchkula, Hariyana, from March 1-12. Hockey India classified the 28 participating teams into three Divisions - A, B and C.

In a promotion and relegation format, the bottom two teams of Division A and Division B will be relegated to the lower tier, while the top two teams of Division B and Division C will get promoted to the higher tier. The Division A, B and C matches were all held at the same venue and during the same duration of March 1-12.

12 teams participated in Division A of the national hockey championship, and were grouped into four pools as follows:

• Pool A: Hariyana, Odisha, Karnataka
• Pool B: Maharashtra, Manipur, Punjab
• Pool C: Jharkhand, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu
• Pool D: Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh

Jharkhand and Hariyana reached the final of the tournament with match results as shown below.

Stage	Date	Jharkhand	Date	Hariyana
Pool	Mar 5	beat Tamil Nadu 9-2	Mar 5	beat Karnataka 5-1
	Mar 6	beat Mizoram 3-1	Mar 6	beat Odisha 3-0
Quarter-finals	Mar 9	beat Madhya Pradesh 3-1	Mar 9	beat Punjab 1-0
Semi-finals	Mar 10	beat Maharashtra 0-0 (3-2 SO)	Mar 10	beat Mizoram 4-0
Final	Mar 12	beat Hariyana 1-1 (4-3 SO)

In the match between the losing semi-finalists, Mizoram beat Maharashtra 2-1 to claim the bronze.

Priyanka Wankhede of Maharashtra was the top scorer of the tournament, with 5 goals.

The final standings were: 1 - Jharkhand, 2 - Hariyana, 3 - Mizoram, 4 - Maharashtra, 5 - Punjab, 6 - Bengal, 7 - Madhya Pradesh, 8 - Karnataka, 9 - Uttar Pradesh, 10 - Odisha, 11 - Manipur, 12 - Tamil Nadu.

Manipur and Tamil Nadu will get relegated to Division B next year, while Uttarakhand and Chattisgadh, the teams which finished 1st and 2nd in Division.B, will be promoted to Division A next year.

"Haridvar Hurricane" Vandana Katariya

he April 2025 Photograph of the Month is of Indian women's hockey player Vandana Katariya, who announced her retirment from international hockey on 1 April.

In an extraordinary career that spanned over 15 years, Vandana retires with 320 international appearances and 158 goals to her name. Some of her milestones include:

• First Indian to complete 300 women's hockey internationals
• Most capped Indian women's hockey player at 320
• Only Indian to score a hat-trick in Olympic women's hockey

Vandana first emerged on the national scene as a key member of India's bronze medal-winning 2013 Junior World Cup team, where she finished as the team's top scorer and the tournament's third-highest goal scorer.

The 32-year-old forward made her senior team debut in 2009. Vandana's career highlights include gold at three continental championships, as can be seen in the table below:

Tournament	Year	Venue	Goals	Placing
Olympics	2016	Rio	0	12
	2021	Tokyo	4	4
World Cup	2018	London	1	8
	2022	ESP/NED	3	Jt-9
Commonwealth Games	2014	Glasgow	1	5
	2018	Gold Coast	0	4
	2022	Birmingham	4	3
Asian Games	2014	Incheon	2	3
	2018	Jakarta	6	2
	2023	Hangzhou	4	3
Asia Cup	2013	Kuala Lumpur	4	3
	2018	Kakamigahara	1	1
	2022	Muscat	3	3
Asian Champions Trophy	2013	Kakamigahara	1	2
	2016	Singapore	1	1
	2018	Donghae City	3	2
	2023	Ranchi	4	1

Vandana missed out on the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers held in Ranchi in January 2024, after she suffered a freak hit to the face a day before the tournament started. That was the only injury-related exclusion in her long association with the national team.

Vandana's injury may likely have had an impact on India's broken Paris dreams. The top 3 teams in the Ranchi Qualifiers got an entry to the 2024 Paris Olympics - India finished 4th.

Vandana played her last match for India during the Bhubanesvar leg of the FIH Pro League in February 2025.

Vandana was honoured with some of India's most prestigious awards, including the Arjuna Puraskar (2021) and the Padma Shri (2022).

Hailing from Roshnabad, Haridvar, Vandana - the "Haridvar Hurricane" - came from a humble family. Her father was a technician at the local Bharat Heavy Electricals.

Vandana's father passed away just before the Tokyo Games. Vandana paid tribute to her father in her retirement announcement:

She wrote: "... And to my late father - my rock, my guiding light- without you, this dream would have remained out of reach; your sacrifices and love have been my foundation. You've given me a platform to dream, to fight, and to win."

Photograph of the 1975 World Cup winning team courtesy Hockey India

he 7th Hockey India Annual Awards for performances in 2024 were held in Delhi on 15th March. The awards ceremony featured a record prize pool of ₹12 crore, the highest ever in the history of the Hockey India Annual Awards.

A total of 32 nominees across eight categories of individual excellence for 2024 made it to the final shortlist, with the winners listed in the table below.

Award	Winner	Cash Award
Dhanraj Pillai Award for Forward of the Year	Abhishek	₹5 lakh
Ajit Pal Singh Award for Midfielder of the Year	Hardik Singh	₹5 lakh
Pargat Singh Award for Defender of the Year	Amit Rohidas	₹5 lakh
Baljeet Singh Award for Goalkeeper of the Year	Savita	₹5 lakh
Jugraj Singh Award for Upcoming Player of the Year (u-21 Men)	Araijeet Singh Hundal	₹10 lakh
Asunta Lakra Award for Upcoming Player of the Year (u-21 Women)	Deepika	₹10 lakh
Balbir Singh Sr. Award for Player of the Year (Men)	Harmanpreet Singh	₹25 lakh
Balbir Singh Sr. Award for Player of the Year (Women)	Savita	₹25 lakh
Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award	1975 World Cup Winning Team	₹50 lakh

In a poignant moment that brought back memories, the 1975 World Cup-winning team was honoured with the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award. India had registered a 2-1 victory over Pakistan in a nail-biting final in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to win India's first-ever World Cup victory in any sport. The 1975 title win remains the only time that India has won the Hockey World Cup.

The World Cup winning players present on the occasion included Leslie Fernandes, Onkar Singh, Ashok Diwan, B. P. Govinda, P. E. Kalaiah, Brigadier H. J. S. Chimni, V. J. Phillips (leading scorer in the 1975 World Cup), Aslam Sher Khan (whose goal in the semi-final tied the match), Brigadier Harcharan Singh (whose goal in the semi-final won the match), and Ashok Kumar (whose goal in the final won India the World Cup).

Other medal-winning teams that were felicitiated included the 2024 bronze medal winning Indian men's team, along with the Men's/Women's Asian Champions Trophy winning teams, and also the Men's/Women's Junior Asia Cup winning teams.

The Milestone Awards included:

• 100 internationals: Jarmanpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh (₹1 lakh each)
• 150 internationals: Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit (₹1.5 lakh each)
• 200 internationals: Amit Rohidas (₹2 lakh each)
• 250 internationals: Susheela Chanu (₹2.5 lakh each)

Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu was awarded Best Member Unit of the Year 2024 for their efforts in revolutionising grassroots hockey through the Tamil Nadu School Hockey League - India's first-ever statewide school hockey league. This initiative featured 8 districts, 306 schools, over 5,500 players, 500+ matches, and 45+ venues, making it a remarkable step forward for the sport.

HI president Dilip Tirkey flanked by World Cup-winning players H. J. S Chimni and Ashok Kumar at the book launch of "March of Glory" | Photo Credit: PTI

arch 15, 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Kuala Lumpur World Cup final, where India beat Pakistan 2-1 to win its first World Cup in any team sport. A book 'March of Glory: The Story of India's 1975 World Cup' was released at Shivaji Stadium on 18th March, 2025 to mark the historic triumph.

1975 World Cup winners Brigadier H. J. S. Chimni and Ashok Kumar, along with Hockey India president Dr. Dilip Tirkey jointly released the book. Harbinder Singh, Zafar Iqbal and Vineet Kumar, along with almost 300 kids from One Thousand Hockey Legs, were present for the release.

Co-authored by Errol D'Cruz and K. Arumugam, the 204-page treatise is first and only chronicle of India's only Hockey World Cup victory.

Tirkey said on the occasion: "I am delighted that the book has been published as we celebrate the centenary of hockey governance in our country. I understand this is the first-ever book on the historic World Cup victory. It is fitting as it comes on the occasion of the golden jubilee of our epic victory in Kuala Lumpur."

Arumugam shared an interesting insight into legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand's son Ashok Kumar, who scored the winning goal in the 1975 World Cup final.

Ashok had committed to a club in Italy and would have missed the World Cup. Ashok wrote to his mentor K. D. Singh 'Babu', seeking his blessings.

Babu's reply was: "When Hitler offered a job to your father, he refused and chose to serve his country." This spurred Ashok and he declined the Italy club assignment and joined the Indian World Cup squad.

The book consists of more such engrossing anecdotes about the 1975 heroes, along with 250 rare photographs, both on and off the field.

A separate book function was held in Mumbai on 3rd April. 77-year-old Onkar Singh, the sole surviving Mumbaikar from the 1975 World Cup team, along with former India captain Viren Rasquinha, were present at the Mumbai launch.

Details of the book:

• Title: March to Glory: The Story of India's 1975 World Cup triumph
• Authors: Errol D'Cruz and K. Arumugam
• Publishers: Hockey Citizen Group
• Price: ₹1,200 (hard bound), ₹800 (paperback)

For copies of the book, write to hockeycitizengroup@gmail.com or call +91-9310618599, 8467870290, 9811662081 or 9823039069.

Odisha Warriors clinched the inaugural Women's Hockey India League in Ranchi on 26 January 26, 2025. Photo credit Hockey India

his month's edition of records and statistics is on the viewership numbers of the Men's and Women's Hero Hockey India League (HIL).

Hero HIL 2024-25 has exceeded expectations, drawing an extraordinary cumulative reach of over 48 million viewers across television and OTT platforms.

The men's final alone garnered 3.07 million viewers, while the most-watched women's match attracted 2.92 million viewers.

Outside of India, over 5 million viewers watch the Men's and Women's HIL in 18 hockey playing countries, across the television and OTT platforms.

In a sports ecosystem where the men's league viewership can span as much as six times the women's league viewership, the Hero HIL has set a new benchmark. Across 44 men's matches, the tournament reached an impressive 32.9 million viewers, while 13 women's matches secured 15.1 million viewers.

In other words, viewership for men's league matches was only two times the viewership of the women's league matches. In fact, at times, the women's matches drew nearly equal attention to their men's counterparts.

Hockey India President Dr. Dilip Tirkey remarked, "The success of Hero HIL 2024-25 is a testament to India's deep-rooted love for hockey. The overwhelming response from fans, brands, and broadcasters reflects the league's immense potential. Our commitment remains steadfast in elevating Indian hockey to new heights, ensuring that the sport gets the recognition and support it truly deserves."

Category	Matches	Television Viewers	OTT Viewers	Facebook/Twitter/Instagram
Men's HIL	44	23.5 million	9.4 million	1 billion views across 3,000 posts
Women's HIL	13	10.5 million	4.59 million