EXCLUSIVE | 1975 World Cup Winner Ashok Kumar SLAMS Harmanpreet and Co, Says Complete Failure For Indian Hockey

Former India international and 1975 World Cup star Ashok Kumar has lashed out at Harmanpreet and Co for an average tournament and have asserted on the lack of attacking players, who can make an impact on the game. 

Bhubaneswar: The Indian Hockey Team were the hot favourites going into the FIH Hockey World Cup 2023 but the Men in Blue faced elimination in the crossovers round as the hosts went down on penalties on the hands of New Zealand. It was an average tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Bronze medallist as they eventually finished joint 9th with Argentina after their classification round match win over South Africa by 5-2. Former India international and 1975 World Cup star Ashok Kumar has lashed out at Harmanpreet and Co for an average tournament and have asserted on the lack of attacking players, who can make an impact on the game.

”It is a complete failure for Indian hockey. The hopes of the nation are shattered. We heaped a lot of praise on the team. But against the 5–6 other teams that emerged strong, we fell a little bit short. The Indian hockey players do not play in any open tournaments so that the media and experts can monitor and scrutinise their game”, Kumar told in an exclusive interview with india.com.

The 72-year old has questioned the role of foreign coaches on the team. According to him, the kind of hockey is put on display is ‘very average’.

”The question now is: What effect do the foreign coaches have on the team? We needed the Indian players’ expertise in playing when they were new to this turf, but with the passage of time and our experience, we no longer need them. The game that we play now is pretty different from what we used to play and it seems that now we are playing hockey, which is more influenced by the European style of playing. Today we see a very average game of hockey. We have Harmanpreet as one of the best players, but he also failed. We lack attacking player or players who can make an impact on the game”, he told.

The former Mohun Bagan man said that India’s inefficiency in scoring and failing to capitalize on the penalty corners has resulted in ultimate pressure and defeat.

”We lacked scoring ability and relied heavily on penalty corners in this World Cup, resulting in ultimate pressure and defeat. It is completely the team’s fault. They have got  enough exposure, good training so this loss can not be blamed on anything else. It is a sad time for us as being the hosts, we are out of the tournament”, Kumar said.

The son of the Hockey Wizard, Dhyan Chand was heavily impressed by Akashdeep’s performance and he see his style of play in the 28 year old.

”Despite India’s sad performance, there was one player who impressed me a lot by his playing style and he was Akashdeep. From his delivery style of ball to his passes, I see a glimpse of my game style”, he added.

Kumar was part of the team that won the 1975 Hockey World Cup in Malaysia and to add to that, he scored the winning goal in the final against arch-rivals Pakistan.

”It was our dream to lift the cup and we always had it in our minds when we went to play for the Olympics as well and that was nothing but to win the gold”, he said.

Talking about his winning goal, the Arjuna Awardee said, ‘We received a long corner in the Final, and I got the ball from Ajit Pal through a slight deflection and then inside the D box, I dodged a player and passed the ball to Victor Philips in the right side. He then without hesitating advanced and dropped a parallel pass to me and as a result I was totally free and I flicked it past the keeper into the bottom corner. It was an all important goal and it came from my stick so obviously it was a happy and proud moment for me”.

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