The bronze medal matches of the lads’s and ladies’s hockey occasions within the Tokyo Olympics was not for the faint-hearted. The matches themselves have been thrillers in each sense of the world and, from an Indian context at the least, the historic background solely made it all of the extra breathtaking.
India gained gold on the 1948 Olympics just some months after dropping a variety of their gamers to the partition. (Getty/PTI)
In the tip, the outcome was such that each side left Japan with smiles on their faces. While the lads’s group wiped off tears of pleasure after beating Germany 5-4 earlier than getting on to the flight, the ladies’s group needed to see past the ache of dropping 4-3 to Great Britain to see simply how monumental their fourth place end was.
Gurbux Singh is aware of a factor or two concerning the pleasure and ache of representing India in hockey on the Olympics. The 87-year-old travelled to Japan and Mexico in two Games and was arguably among the many final era of Indian gamers for whom not successful gold on the Olympics was seen as an abomination. Gurbux gained gold on the 1964 Games and bronze in 1968, the place he was additionally joint captain of the group. India would win one other bronze in 1972 after which they’d win only one medal – gold in 1980 – for practically 4 many years earlier than 2021.
Gurbux’s years have been marked by the Indian group’s tussle with Pakistan, who had ended their reign on the Olympics in 1960. Gurbux stated that watching the lads’s group win bronze at Tokyo 2020 took him again to the time when the group he performed with snatched the title again from Pakistan.
“Definitely brought back a lot of memories. I was part of the team that won gold in 1964, snatching it back from Pakistan who had won it in 1960. Sitting and watching those matches I was expecting that we can do it. I think we did very well. All those years that we couldn’t win a medal, we were in the wilderness. Coming back into the medal category was great,” Gurbux advised Hindustan Times.
The wilderness years
The years of India dominating the game on the Olympics are properly and really up to now and a long-term follower of the game could be extra acquainted with the scars of the group’s misses since 1972, barring the gold medal in 1980. It had reached its zenith when Indian did not qualify for the Olympics for the primary time for the reason that sport turned a everlasting fixture within the sport in 1928.
“I was witness to so many previous Olympics like 2002 where we almost made it past the group stage. We drew with Poland in the last match and did not qualify. That was also the case in Los Angeles (1984) that we just about failed to qualify after drawing with Germany. We were in the wilderness but these wonderful youngsters did it again and it was a great thing.
“Particularly the final moments when it was contact and go, just some seconds have been left and the clock additionally stopped. I believe these have been the moments which have been actually tense however in the end we did it.”
While stating that the legendary Dhyan Chand’s contribution can’t ever be neglected, Gurbux stated that the gold medal victory on the 1948 Olympics in London was as essential as any on account of the truth that it continued India’s dominance regardless of the group dropping many gamers after the partition. The years of dominance across the time that the 2 nation gained independence and their journey again to being among the many medals is roofed within the documentary ‘India’s Game’ which might be streamed on Hockey India’s Youtube web page.
“This was a documentary that reminded us of our power which will help us in trying to win more gold medals in the future. I don’t want to discredit the teams that won in 1928 and the 1930s under Dhyanchand but Kishan Lal’s team in 1948 restarted that same journey and continued it. Seeing the tricolour in 1948 right after getting independence must have been a great experience for them,” stated Gurbux.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
