Commonwealth Games 2018: Top 3 Indian hockey moments in CWG history
One of the biggest crowd pulling events of Commonwealth Games, field hockey, enters its 6th edition with Kuala Lumpur being the first games in which hockey was introduced.
While Australia has dominated the medal standings of Commonwealth Games, men winning all six gold medals and the women winning five, India too had its fair share of victories and glorie in Commonwealth Games.
As both Indian men and women's team look to better their records at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, let us take a look at the top three Indian hockey moments from Commonwealth Games so far.
3. Battle of arch-rivals (India vs Pakistan, 2010 CWG Delhi, men)
India-Pakistan encounters are by far the most entertaining and exciting hockey matches that draw the most attention from both local and foreign hockey fans. The tournament organizers make sure that India and Pakistan do face each other in every edition of the tournament, something that attracts the crowd to both the stadiums and the TV screens.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games was also not too different as a 16,000 capacity Major Dhanychand Stadium was fully sold out with last tickets getting sold more than 3 ½ months before the event started.
The media, both local and foreign, had termed this match as ‘Game of the Games’. With tension on both sides of the border on the rise, India took on Pakistan in the last pool game of the tournament, with the latter just needing a draw to reach the semi-finals.
After two dud performances against Malaysia and Australia, the Indian team had a point to prove against Pakistan and they did it in style. Penalty corner expert Sandeep Singh gave Indian team a two-goal lead in the first 10 minutes of the game while Indian forward Shivendra Singh playing the game of this life to put Pakistan out of medal contention.
Sarvanjit Singh, Danish Mujtaba and Dharamvir Singh scored the other goals in the match to beat Pakistan 7-4, as India achieved their first win over Pakistan in the Commonwealth Games, with Indian coach Jose Brasa comparing the atmosphere of New Delhi to that of Santiago Bernabeu.