By Anand Philar, IANS,
First World Cup – Barcelona, Spain (Oct 15-24, 1971)
Thanks to initiatives by Pakistan and India, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) decided in October 1969 to organise a World Cup once every two years (subsequently every four years). The first World Cup was allotted to Pakistan in 1971, but was shifted to the Real Polo Club in Barcelona, Spain, because of security issues in Lahore. At that time nobody had even thought of playing hockey on astro-turf and the tournament was played on natural grass.
The Indians, led by centre-half Ajit Pal Singh, were favourites despite having lost their hold on the Olympic gold medal at the 1968 Games in Mexico where they had finished third. The Indian team went to Spain without their star centre-forward Balbir Singh (Western Railway) who was dropped following a run-in with the authorities.
Recalling the days, M.P. Ganesh, a member of the team, said: “We definitely missed Balbir and we struggled through our initial matches.”
India duly qualified for the semi-finals with victories against France (1-0), Argentina (1-0) and Kenya (2-0) and came up against Pakistan who won the game 2-1. A young Munawar-uz-Zaman scored the match-winner from a penalty corner after coming on as a substitute for an injured Tanvir Dar.
“We should have won that game and even Munawar’s shot could have been saved had our goalkeeper Cedric Pereira stayed on his feet. I was the runner and Munawar’s shot hit my stick and when I looked back, Cedric was on the ground and the ball had entered the goal,” recalled Ganesh.
On their part, Pakistan, who had lost 2-3 to Spain in the league, were lucky to even qualify for the semis as The Netherlands, needing a win to advance to the round of four, crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat to Japan!
“I vividly remember the Pakistanis offering prayers before the Holland-Japan match and I guess their plea was heard,” said Ganesh.
Pakistan went on to win the World Cup, defeating Spain 1-0 in the final. India finished third after a hard-fought 1-0 win against Kenya with Ganesh scoring the match-winner.
Indian team:
Goalkeepers: Cedric Pereira, Charles Cornelius. Full-backs: Vinod Kumar, Michael Kindo, Baldev Singh. Half-backs: P. Krishnamurthy, Ajit Pal Singh (captain), Harmek Singh, Vece Paes. Forwards: M.P. Ganesh, Ashok Kumar, Shahid Noor, Kulwant Singh, Harcharan Singh, Rajvinder Singh, Francis D’Mello. Coach: Balbir Singh (Sr)
How they finished
1. Pakistan; 2. Spain; 3. India; 4. Kenya; 5. West Germany; 6. The Netherlands; 7. France; 8. Australia; 9. Japan; 10. Argentina.
(Anand Philar is a noted hockey writer. He can be reached at [email protected])