Times of India: Champions Trophy 1982: When a Pak stick did trick for India!
BENGALURU: When people talk about India’s performance in Champions Trophy over the years, one of the first names that comes to mind is Rajinder Singh (Sr). The robust defender of yesteryears, who went on to coach the Indian hockey team, left a lasting impression with a hat-trick at the 1982 Champions Trophy bronze-medal encounter against Pakistan.
Speaking to TOI on Friday, Rajinder said, “A podium match is always crucial and when you play Pakistan in a match like that, it is always a high-intensity encounter. We didn’t have the best of starts and were left reeling 0-3 within the first 17 minutes of the match. As a team, we always had a never-say-die attitude and regrouped to stun Pakistan. I scored a hat-trick in that match and it is a performance I rate among my best.”
In that high-intensity match, Rajinder converted three of the 12 penalty corners India earned, sounding the board in the 25th, 32nd and 46th minutes. Considered among the best penalty corner specialists of his times, the Olympian recalled playing the match with a stick made in Pakistan! “Khwaja from Grays Karachi King, manufacturers of hockey sticks, had given me three sticks in appreciation of my performance at the World Cup, and the irony of the situation was that I scored the goals with one of those sticks.”
The match wasn’t without accidents and injuries. “During one of the penalty corners, my stick hit the wrist of rusher Kalimullah and he had to leave the field with a fracture,” recollected the 57-year-old.