Dear Editor,
It was a proud moment when India won the prestigious Asian Games hockey final by beating arch rival Pakistan in the penalty shootout. Congratulations to the captain, Sardar Singh, and his team, especially goalkeeper P.R Sreejesh. It was India’s third gold in Asian hockey after 1966 and 1998. With this win, India get a direct entry into the Rio Olympics in 2016. In the 1966 team, nine players were from Punjab and in the present team, seven players were from Punjab and one from Haryana. The credit goes to coach Terry Walsh and assistant coach M.K Kaushik. Kaushik was also the coach of the 1998 winning team.
Efforts should now be made to ensure a good performance in the Rio Olympics. India last won the Olympic gold in 1980. But it cannot be termed a good win since most of the European teams had then boycotted the Olympic Games. Before that, India won the Olympic gold in 1964 in Tokyo and the prestigious World Cup in 1975 when Ajit Pal Singh was the captain.
Kartar Singh
Ramgarh, Samba
