Former hockey player Mr. Mir Ranjan Negi launched his book ‘From Gloom to Glory’ with noted Bollywood Actor & Ambassador of Indian Hockey Suniel Shetty at Crossword Bookstore

Mumbai, September 24, 2008: Crossword–India’s leading lifestyle bookstore and Popular Prakashan launched the book ‘From Gloom to Glory’ by eminent Indian field hockey player Mr. Mir Ranjan Negi. The book is the account of Mr. Mir Ranjan Negi’s fall from grace in the field of hockey on national television in the finals against Pakistan in the Delhi Asiad & his fight for redemption from the pain & humiliation to his determined triumph.

“Popular Prakashan is pleased to associate with Mir Ranjan Negi and Indian hockey. It is our endeavour to provide an expression platform to achievers from all walks of life to share their experience and provide inspiration to the new generation. I am sure this book will inspire many young people to come forward and take up the game of Hockey.” Mr. Manish Purohit, CEO, Popular Prakashan.

Noted Bollywood actor & Ambassador of Indian Hockey, Mr Suniel Shetty launched and discussed the book with the author.

About the Book

Hockey threw him into ignominy and then suddenly made him famous. This is the dramatic life of goalkeeper Mir Ranjan Negi who was the much- lauded coach of the cast of the film Chak De India made by Yash Raj Films. His account of his fall from grace on national television in front of a whole nation, in the finals against Pakistan in the Delhi Asiad, is as moving as his fight for his redemption.

Negi’s story is told more from a sense of wanting to do something about the great odds that he and his contemporaries battled against than from any sense of bitterness or vendetta. It documents the era of one of the most bizarre periods of Indian Hockey when players were mere pawns in the hands of officials and were selected and dropped at will. There are many inside stories that will shock and amuse—like a player in the national side substituted by another before the plane takes off or a captain reading in the newspapers that he is ill and will be unable to play.

A national side once actually had two captains and two coaches! While the book deals with what ails our hockey fraternity, it is also a gripping story of one man who used the pain and humiliation of defeat to fuel his determination to succeed. The book holds out some hope that hockey can regain the glory it once enjoyed in the world arena. A truly inspiring book about sportsmanship and the doughty wielders of the hockey stick which one hopes will shake a one-game obsessed nation into sitting up and noticing the unsung heroes our national sport.

About the Author:

Mir Ranjan Negi is the former Indian hockey coach. He was the goalkeeping coach for the 1998 Asian Games in which the India national field hockey team won the Gold. Negi was later hired to be the goalkeeping coach of the India women’s national field hockey team. The team won the Gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. He was also the assistant coach for the Women’s team when it won the Gold at the 2004 Hockey Asia Cup.

About Popular Prakashan

Popular Prakashan Private Limited has been in the business of books for the last 85 years, winning many state and national level awards for excellence in publishing. Popular Prakashan has always been a name associated with high standards of writing and excellence in design and production. We have pioneered Indian publishing in Medicine and Social Sciences. A strong list of academic publications in the fields of Sociology, Politics, Religion, History, Philosophy, Education, Cookery and Medicine & also children’s books, makes Popular Prakashan a leader in the fiction & non fiction category.