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India

K. Arumugam

January 28, 2004: Introduction of women hockey in the 1980 Olympics has spurred the Asian Nations to take up women hockey seriously. At this juncture, Asian Hockey Federation introduced the Men’s Asia Cup, which was held at Karachi in January 1981. On the women’s front, Japan hosted the First Asian Championship the same year at Kyoto. India led by Padam Sri Eliza Nelson, won the title. Strictly speaking this should have been the First Asia Cup, but as the tournament had no proper approvals, the AHF did not consider it so. It took another five years for the ladies to properly organize their maiden Asia Cup. South Korea, which got the right to host both 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Olympics, agreed to organize the first Asia Cup, which it did with much fanfare at Seoul in 1985, eight months after men staged their second Asia Cup at Dhaka, Bangladesh.


So, when on 20th September Japan took on Hong Kong at the Hyo Chang Stadium in Seoul in the opening match of the 6-day 6-Nation competition, the Asia Cup for Women was truly born. It was also first international tournament in South Korea. Koreans made it so memorable winning all the five matches and walking away with the winner’s prize, the Tun Abdul Razak Trophy. Koreans 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 the last in the ranking ladder.

Asian Games gold medallist India did not participate in the inaugural edition due to variety of factors, the crucial one being the silly reason of Indian Women Hockey Federation’s inability to get some camps sanctioned by the government of India in time. ‘Untrained’ Indians truly missed the historical opportunity, which they were, in the first place, hell bent on creating in the past. Sri Lanka and Chinese Taipei withdrew at the last minute. Earlier, the hosting of the Asia Cup run into trouble as both China and Taiwan entered the field, leading to many heartburns in the Asian hockey family. The controversy with regards to China’s objection of Taiwan being admitted as a separate identity into multi-nation sports was a great problem even in the International Olympic Committee in those days. The AHF therefore managed to get keep both the teams out of the Asia Cup orbit!

By the time the second Asia Cup was held in Hong Kong, much water has flowed down the bridges. Korean women unseated India at the home Asiad and had made strong inroads into the global hockey and even dared the well-entrenched traditional powers. There was enough proof of their rising status when they won their maiden Champions Trophy on their maiden attempt at Frankfurt, Germany. But China, making their first foray into international sport scene, dethroned Korea in the second Asia Cup held in December 1989. Chinese women defeated India and China 2-0 and Hong Kong 8-0 and in the crucial tie against Korea, which was also the last match of the 5-Nation meet, it surprised the Asian Games and Champions Trophy double-gold medalist Korea with a solitary goal win. Japan again finished second followed by Korea, India and Hong Kong.

As China, Korea and Japan showed symptoms of rise since then, the Indians lost the direction and purpose so quickly. India finished at a poor rank in the Delhi Intercontinental tournament, in which even the national coach walked away midway through the tournament. The dismal show proved to be India’s undoing. Government of India even refused to clear the team for the 1991 Olympic Qualifier even as the girls had undergone a cruelling three month training. Most of the 1982 Asiad stars had since retired. IWHF headed by knowledgeable Arnawaz Damania brought in Moscow Olympic gold medalist M.K. Kaushik as the chief coach. He unearthed many raw talents at the Gurgaon Nationals and polished them to a sparkle in a couple of years. The gems of the players 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 Donito D’Mellow and pivot Raj
bir Rai belonged to the old generation. Led by Rajbir India won the bronze at Hiroshima in the third Asia Cup on India’s Diwali day that year. It defeated Japan 1-0 in the third place play off, the winning goal emanating from the stick of Aleyamma Mathews. This was considered a solid start towards revitalising the Indian women hockey. Justifiably so as India drew the ultimate winners Korea in its pool.

At Hiroshima in 1993, China hosted both men and women Asia Cups simultaneously as a dress rehearsal for next year Asian Games to be staged in the same city. The host team, however, could not lift the Cup, having failed to arrest the Koreans in the crucial tie. Defeatless Korea and China met on November 14 in the final. Shin Yoo Ri and Kwon Soo Hyun scored a goal apiece before the lemon time and Cho Sun Jung scored one more in the second half for an emphatic 3-0 win for the Koreans in the final. For the first time classification matches were held and with seven teams in the fray the field was by the largest. A soviet splinter Uzbekistan participated in the Asia Cup and finished fifth ahead of Singapore and Thailand.

Note: Fourth Asia Cup details will appear as the third and last piece of the series in a couple of days.

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