K. ARUMUGAM

India mooted the formation of an Asian Hockey Association for women in the early 1960s and emphasized the need for one during the 1962 international tournament in Ahmedabad. Soon, as a follow up, an ad hoc Asian Women Hockey Association (AWHA) was formed with Lucknow’s Aizaz Rasool, then president of the All India Women Hockey Association, as its first president and Japan’s Iwsa secretary.  The first meeting of the AWHA was held in New Delhi in 1964, the next one during the Tokyo Olympics the same year.

India and Japan then joined hands to propose the Asian Championship. When South East Asian nations withdrew at the last minute, India fielded two teams to make up two pools of three teams each. Besides India, Kenya, Ceylon, Uganda and Japan played the championship at New Delhi early in 1968. Japan won the Asian Championship final defeating Uganda, an African nation!

More details about the above tournament in the link: ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP 1968

Four years later, the All Indian Women’s Hockey Association become the first Asian national women’s association to be affiliated to the FIH, whose statues then provided for two associations for each country, one for each gender.

Women’s competitions in Asia took a roller coaster ride subsequently. To cut the matter short, let us fast forward to 1980. The Indian women’s participation in the 1980 Moscow Olympics served as a booster and encouraged them to yearn and aim for more.

As India hosted the 1982 Asian Games, it managed to bring women’s hockey into the fold. It turned out to be a watershed in the growth of the women’s game. And a new chapter for women’s hockey commenced. India won the first Asian Games gold, still the only one the country’s women’s team has won in the continent’s top multi-games event.

Before the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea hosted the first edition of the Women’s Asia Cup in Seoul. Despite organizing a preparatory camp, India could not go to Seoul due to misunderstanding and mistrust between Government Agencies and the IWHA.

The complete story in the link: Why did India miss the first Asia Cup?

The introduction of women hockey to the 1980 Olympics had spurred Asian nations to support the sport seriously. At this juncture, the Asian Hockey Federation introduced the Men’s Asia Cup, which was held at Karachi in January 1981. In the women’s section, Japan hosted the first Asian Championship the same year at Kyoto. India led by Padmashree Eliza Nelson won the title. Strictly speaking this should have been the first Asia Cup but as the tournament had no proper approval, the AHF did not consider it official.

So, when Japan took on Hong Kong at the Hyo Chang Stadium in Seoul on 20th September in the opening match of the six-day, six-nation competition, the Asia Cup for women was truly born.

It was also the first international tournament in South Korea and the home team made it so memorable by winning all five matches and walking away with the winner’s prize, the Tun Abdul Razak trophy.

South Korea led by Sang Hyun Chung defeated Singapore 7-0, Hong Kong 5-0, Malaysia 2-1, Thailand 13-1 and Japan 4-1. Japan won the silver and Malaysia the bronze. Singapore finished fourth, Hong Kong fifth and Thailand was left holding the wooden spoon.

By the time the second Asia Cup was held in Hong Kong, much water has flowed under the bridge. The Korean women unseated India at their home Asian Games and had made strong inroads into global hockey and even dared the well-entrenched traditional powers. There was enough proof of their rising status when they won the Champions Trophy on their maiden attempt at Frankfurt, Germany.

But China, making their first foray into international hockey scenario dethroned South Korea in the second Asia Cup held in December 1989. The Chinese women defeated India and China 2-0 and the host Hong Kong 8-0. In the crucial tie against Korea, which was also the last match of the five-nation meet, China surprised the Asian Games and Champions Trophy double-gold medalists South Korea with a solitary-goal win. Japan again finished second followed by South Korea, India and Hong Kong.

As China, Korea and Japan climbed the ladder since then, India lost direction and purpose. They finished poorly in the Delhi Intercontinental tournament, in which even the national coach walked away midway through the competition. The dismal show proved to be India’s undoing. The Government of India even refused to clear the team for the 1991 Olympic Qualifier even after the girls had undergone grueling training lasting three months.

Most of the 1982 Asian Games stars had since retired. The Indian Women’s Hockey Federation (IWHF) headed by the knowledgeable Arnawaz Damania brought in Moscow Olympic gold medalist M.K. Kaushik as chief coach.

He unearthed raw talent at the Gurgaon Nationals and polished them to a sparkle in a couple of years. The gems he identified included incomparable Sita Gusain, dashing striker Pritam Thakran (now Siwach), inside forward Manjinder Kaur, solid defender Sandeep Kaur, winger Aleyamma Mathews and goalkeeper Tingonleima Chanu. Only the other goalkeeper Donita D’Mello and pivot Rajbir Rai belonged to the old generation.

Led by Rajbir, India won the bronze at Hiroshima in the third Asia Cup during Diwali that year. They defeated Japan 1-0 in the third-place playoff, the winning goal emanating from the stick of Aleyamma Mathews. This was considered a solid start towards revitalizing Indian women hockey. Justifiably so as India drew with the ultimate winners South Korea in the pool.

Japan hosted both men and women Asia Cups simultaneously as a dress rehearsal for the Asian Games the following year in the same city. The hosts, however, could not lift the Cup, having failed to arrest the Koreans in the crucial tie.

More to follow in the next post