1975 champions urge Harmanpreet's India to put country first at World Cup
Former 1975 champions Ashok Kumar and Aslam Sher Khan urged Harmanpreet Singh’s Indian men's hockey team to prioritise national pride as they prepare for the men's World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium from August 15 to 30, calling on the squad to end a 51-year wait for a World Cup medal.
India's only men's World Cup triumph came in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur, where they beat Pakistan 2-1 and Ashok Kumar scored the decisive goal in the 51st minute; the two 1975 winners were also members of India sides that took bronze in 1971 and silver in 1973.
Ashok addressed the current squad directly, saying: "I would say to the Indian team: keep in mind that victory or defeat will not be yours, but your country's. This will automatically inspire you. This 51-year wait has been too long, and now we have to win a medal," Ashok said while talking to PTI.
Aslam, who scored the equaliser in the 1975 semi-final against Malaysia that helped India reach the final, urged players to adopt the same patriotic intensity his generation displayed: "When we entered the World Cup, our country was like our mother, and we played with that same passion. You too must enter the field with the thought that we are playing for our mother, and our passion must be such that we will win at all costs," he said.
Recalling the build-up to eventual success, Ashok described the disappointment of earlier near-misses and the hunger that followed: "When we lost the semi-final in 1971, coach Balbir Singh Sr cried so much that it was difficult to calm him down. Such was the passion to win for the country." He added: "When we won silver in 1973, there was huge disappointment of missing out on gold. I even wondered how I would show these medals to my father and uncle. I would feel ashamed to return home with a bronze or silver," said Ashok.
The 1975 squad's preparations featured a demanding camp in Chandigarh that the pair say fuelled their resolve, and Aslam drew a contrast between Olympic and World Cup demands while pointing to recent Olympic results under Harmanpreet: the Harmanpreet-led side securing bronze at both the Tokyo Games in 2021 and Paris in 2024. Aslam noted the Tokyo campaign came during the COVID-19 pandemic and that India reproduced its medal-winning performance in Paris, adding: "If we can play with the same spirit as we did at the Paris Olympics, India is sure to be on the podium after 51 years," he said.
Translating Olympic consistency into World Cup success is the immediate challenge for the Harmanpreet-led team, with the World Cup staged in the Netherlands and Belgium from August 15 to 30 presenting India another opportunity to pursue a place on the men's hockey World Cup podium.