I was delighted to receive New Years Greetings from Ashok Kumar who represented Indian Hockey offence with distinction. He was known for his stick work and dribbling. The card carried the photos of Dhyan Chand (Ashok’s illustrious father), Pele and Mohammad ali. They are all-time great respectively in hockey, football and boxing. Bradman, however, was conspicuous by his absence among the photographs. He in fact is in the same bracket as the other three.
Dhyan Chand’s eminence lay not in one department of the game but in all-round excellence. For example, in dribbling, Shakur of Bhopal and Aligarh surpassed his great contemporary but lagged far behind him in speed, strength and astute distribution of the ball. While on the move, Dhyan chand kept the ball as ahead of himself as the hockey stick could manage. This technique, although very difficult for lesser players, allowed him immense elbow-room within which to manipulate and to foil the opponent’s anticipation. His combination with his cousin, Roop Singh, was lethal. Roop Singh could deflect with immense strength the beautiful passes that his brainy cousin used to send to him. Dhyan Chand was a great gentleman who would never take an unfair advantage either on or off the play ground. Redoubtable full-backs would sharpen their sticks to attack the dangerous forward, but he would never retaliate taking rough play aimed at his limbs with a condenscending smile. One seldom comes across such humility in a genius.
Although we had met a number of times at the Shivaji Stadium, Ashok Kumar came into my ken in connection with the Champion Colleges Hockey Tournament held jointly by Jawaharlal Nehru Hockey Tournament Society and the Association of Indian Universities. The tournament was sponsored by Steel Authority of India Limited. The sponsors unfortunately withdrew because of constraint of resources. Last year, a reduced version of the tournament was held with 8 Champion Colleges Teams instead of 16. This year efforts to spark rethinking by SAIL on sponsorship failed and we had very unwillingly to take the decision not have been difficult for the two hundred and odd universities in the country to support this tournament. But the Association of Indian Universities thought otherwise. It is not just one year that has been lost but also the momentum built over more than a decade.