For more than 40 years, B.G. Joshi, an engineer with Madhya Pradesh Water Resources Department, has been tirelessly working in his other profession – being the unofficial statistician of Indian hockey. A conversation at a tea stall owner (a hockey fan) more than four decades ago set him thinking, and what followed was a hockey journey full of numbers.
Over the years, Joshi has compiled statistics of every game the Indian hockey team (men and women) have played, and his numbers are featured on the website Bharatiya Hockey.
Following are some very important numbers of Indian hockey (both men and women) since the inception:
Men (1926 – 2013)• Matches played- 1501, Won- 836, Draw-242 and Lost- 423
• Played against 60 teams, most versus arch rivals Pakistan. India records with Pakistan are: Played-158, Wins- 52, Draw-28 and Lost-78.
• Played in 58 IOC/FIH tournaments where team won 12 Gold medals which includes 8 Olympics (1928,1932,1936,1948,1952,1956,1964,1980), 1 World Cup (1975), 1 Champions Challenge ( 2001), 1 Olympic Qualifier (2012) and 1 World League Round-2 (2013)
• Played 33 Continental tournaments and winning 7 Gold comprising of two at Asian Games (1966, 1998), two at Asia Cup (2003, 2007), one each in SAF Games(1995), Afro Asian games(2003) and Asian Champions Trophy(2011).
• Played in 44 Invitation tournaments in Asia, winning 17 which consists of 5 Azlan Shah Triumph (1985, 1991, 1995, 2009 and 2010).
• Played 59 invitation tournaments in Rest Of The World, notable title wins are Hockey Australia Challenge Cup (2000,2003), Hamburg Masters(1966,2003), Nairobi Marshall Cup (1988) and Dhaka Prime Minister Gold cup (2001).
• Played 130 test series vs. 29 countries won 83, drew 17 and lost 30.
Women (1953 – 2013)
• Till date 598 matches played, won 232, drew 101 and lost 265.
• Played against 53 teams, most versus Japan. India record against Japan is Played-52, Wins- 9, Draws -13 and Lost -30.
• Played 22 IOC/FIH tourneys, won 2, Champions Challenge II in 2009 and World League Round-2 (2013).
• Played 24 Continental tourneys won 4 Gold comprising 1 Asian Games (1982), 1Asia Cup (2004), once each Commonwealth Games (2002) and Afro Asian Games (2003).
• Played 39 test series vs. 19 countries won 14, drew 4 and lost 21.
(These statistics of Indian hockey are published here with the kind permission of B.G Joshi, and any reproduction of these numbers in any form should be done with prior permission of B.G Joshi)
