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Ajitpal Singh
BANGKOK, DEC 16: Bangkok brought back memories of the time I played for India here in 1970. Then in the final against Pakistan we lost 0-1. In the time since then -- 28 years -- Asian hockey has seen the emergence of South Korea, the defending champions, and Commonwealth finalists Malaysia and Japan, who have made the semis here in Bangkok.
It was heartening to see India play as a `team'. The deep defence was very effective and the attack full of vigour and ideas. Dhanraj Pillay, Mukesh Kumar and Baljit Singh made some excellent moves and were well supported by Ramandeep Singh, Mohammed Riaz and Baljit Saini. India dominated the first half and made wonderful moves and won nearly half a dozen penalty corners. In fact Mukesh scored our first goal from an indirect conversion. The second goal came off a reverse flick from an acute angle by Baljit Dhillon which surprised the Korean goalkeeper.
From what I have seen of the Asian Games men's hockey, the title is open and any of the three teams, India, SouthKorea or Pakistan can take the gold. My assessment of Pakistan is that the team they have here is too raw and somewhat immature. Hence not a patch on the great teams they have produced in the past. South Korea is a team I thought would be the favourites, but the way India played against them, I would imagine this is India's best chance of winning the Asian games gold which they have not done since 1966.
By defeating Korea, India have earned themselves a semi-final match-up against Japan, which is certainly easier than having to play Pakistan in the semis, while Pakistan take on Korea in the other semi-final.
It has been interesting to watch the women's team play some good hockey in the last few days. They had a good 2-1 win over China and they played a tough 1-1 draw against Japan. The women have qualified for the gold-silver fight, where they clash with Korea. India had lost to Korea in the league, but I hope they can take revenge for that in the final.
So, two medals, hopefully at least one of themgold should make Bangkok a great venue for Indian hockey.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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