India break the jinx, win first title at National Stadium

Prabhjot Singh

India has at last broken the Major Dhyan Chand National Hockey Stadium jinx by winning the Olympic Qualifying Tournament defeating France 8-1 in the final. Never before India won a title at this historic stadium.

It was India’s second win in three matches the two countries have played in the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments since 1991. It was in 1982 Asian Games final that India suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Pakistan at this historic venue. And in 2010 India suffered yet another big defeat, this time at the hands of Australia in the final of the Commonwealth Games hockey competition.

It may be coincidence that big defeats in the finals came in the presence of Indian Prime Ministers — Indira Gandhi in 1982 and Manmohan Singh in 2010. And today it was Sports Minister Ajay Maken who inaugurated the final.

The only time India won a hockey gold in New Delhi was in 1982 Asian Games Hockey competition for women when India was on the victory podium at Shivaji Stadium, another venue of competitions.

It is for the fifth time that India was playing in an Olympic qualifier beginning with Auckland in 1991 where India lost to the Soviet Union in the final. Only time India failed to make it to Olympics was in 2008 when it lost to Great Britain in the final of Olympic Qualifier Tournament in Chile.