The Indian team went all the way to the finals of the 1973 edition before losing to the Netherlands. , Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Conceived jointly by India and Pakistan as the premier standalone competition for hockey outside the Olympics and approved by the International Hockey Federation in 1969, it still took 13 years and four editions for the event to be held in the Indian subcontinent for the first time. Happened. ,
While the first edition in 1971 was allotted to Pakistan before being moved to Spain due to political and security issues, India was to host in 1975 before governance issues forced it to be moved to Malaysia. While the early editions were held every two years, since 1982 the tournament has been held every four years, bifurcating the Olympic cycle.
1971, Barcelona (October 15-24)
Not hosting the event did not affect Pakistan’s performance. Islauddin Siddiqui, penalty-corner specialist Tanveer Ahmed Dar – who was also the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals – and Abdul Rashid relied on some impressive performances to claim the inaugural edition, an invite-only one, after their defeat in the group stage To avenge the defeat of Spain 1-0 in the final.
India, who won a bronze medal in Mexico in 1968, finished the group stage unbeaten with four wins in as many matches before taking on Pakistan in the semi-finals, losing 1-2 to bow out of the title race and drawing 1-1 against Kenya. 0 win ensured third place. Thus Pakistan became the first country to win both the Olympic and World titles at the same time.
top three: Pakistan, Spain, India
1973, Amstelveen (August 24–September 2)
The Netherlands became the first country to host and win the tournament, defeating India 4–2 on penalty strokes in the final after a 2–2 draw after full time and extra time, with Ties Cruys scoring for the hosts. Scored both goals. At that time the game was played for 70 minutes in two halves, with two halves of 15 minutes each in extra time using stroke as a tie-breaker.
India had gone undefeated through the group stage before being run into Pakistan again. The reigning champions had topped their group despite fielding a relatively inexperienced side – 11 of its players were serving bans for their misconduct after losing the 1972 Olympic final.
India managed to enter the final with a 1–0 win against the hosts, while the hosts had to face a tie-breaker against Germany in the semi-finals.
top three: Netherlands, India, West Germany