Hockey Flashback: When India missed glory by a whisker in 1973
Following the massive success of the first edition of the FIH's Men's Hockey World Cup in 1971, the second edition was held in complete glory at Amstelveen in Netherlands two years later. This was the first tournament to be held after the iconic Summer Olympics, in this case being the controversial edition of Munich 1972.
The first standardized World Cup ever:
This tournament was officially the first ever World Cup to be played in a standardized format of 12 teams, who would play a league round with each other in two pools of six teams each before the top two proceeded to the semifinals, and the others for the subsequent classification matches.
Surjit Singh - The discovery of the World Cup:
Rarely has Indian hockey produced such legends who never managed to have the coveted Olympic medal in their collection, despite their brilliant talent. But one such strange exception was Surjit Singh Randhawa, who had every laurel in his collection except the Olympic medal.
A diligent cop from Punjab Police, Surjit had made his debut in that edition of the tournament and became well known for his skillful display of hockey. It was due to him that India broke the semifinal jinx that ailed them for the last five years since the Mexico Olympics. They entered the finals of a major field hockey tournament after 9 years, the last being their mindblowing stint at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
It had been years since an Indian had displayed his supremacy in the hockey field, the last great individual being Pritihipal Singh, India's penalty corner specialist, and with Surjit Singh, it looked as if India's woes would be solved and the once invincible hockey superpower would be back on track. Sadly, Surjit too became the victim of internal politics and was forced to hang up his boots by 1984, following which he died shortly in a terrible car accident.
Pakistan at the World Cup: Surprise sail to semifinals despite notoriety:
The World Cup also came up as a sweet surprise for the defending champions, Pakistan. Only a year ago, their campaign at Munich Olympics, was marred by notoriety as they lost the gold to West Germany, breaking the Asian stronghold on the Olympics gold since 1928.
It was the first time in the history of field hockey that neither India nor Pakistan managed to win the Olympic gold. Allegedly, the referees were biased towards the Germans and in protest, all hell broke loose.
When the officials came up to give the medal to Pakistani players, instead of bringing forward their necks, they held out their bare feet and wore the medal on the same. They even showed their backs to the West German flag when the national anthem was played, and as a result, both FIH and PHF, the Pakistani body for field hockey, struck hard, suspending most of the players involved. So the 1973 edition saw an entirely new team on hand.
Despite this controversy, Pakistan smoothly sailed to the semifinals, not losing a single match except for a draw against England.
A sweet revenge like Tokyo:
However, the semifinals of the 1973 edition were a different story altogether. India had been already humiliated twice, in the 1971 edition and the Munich Olympics semifinals, and were seething for revenge. Led by captain Ajit Pal Singh and Surjit Singh, the Indians gave it their all, and to everyone's surprise, they won the match in the exact fashion that their predecessors did at the Tokyo Olympics of 1964, by a solitary goal.
So near, yet so far:
The stage was set for a historic final. The Netherlands had managed to enter the top two for the first time after years, and so did India. It was a nail-biting match, with none of the teams ready to budge. The goalkeeper of India, Charles Cornelius, acted solid as a rock, reminding many of the charisma that his predecessor, army man Shankar Laxman once sported.
The match was dragged to the penalty shootout, and initially, it went great. But in the last two strokes, Charles Cornelius couldn't maintain the momentum as he did initially, and he finally gave in, allowing Netherlands to win their first ever FIH Hockey World Cup. It was so near, yet so far for India, and they had to settle for a gutsy silver medal.