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One of the biggest crowd pulling events of Commonwealth Games, field hockey, enters its 6th edition with Kuala Lumpur being the first games in which hockey was introduced.
While Australia has dominated the medal standings of Commonwealth Games, men winning all six gold medals and the women winning five, India too had its fair share of victories and glorie in Commonwealth Games.
As both Indian men and women's team look to better their records at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, let us take a look at the top three Indian hockey moments from Commonwealth Games so far.
3. Battle of arch-rivals (India vs Pakistan, 2010 CWG Delhi, men)
India-Pakistan encounters are by far the most entertaining and exciting hockey matches that draw the most attention from both local and foreign hockey fans. The tournament organizers make sure that India and Pakistan do face each other in every edition of the tournament, something that attracts the crowd to both the stadiums and the TV screens.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games was also not too different as a 16,000 capacity Major Dhanychand Stadium was fully sold out with last tickets getting sold more than 3 ½ months before the event started.
The media, both local and foreign, had termed this match as ‘Game of the Games’. With tension on both sides of the border on the rise, India took on Pakistan in the last pool game of the tournament, with the latter just needing a draw to reach the semi-finals.
After two dud performances against Malaysia and Australia, the Indian team had a point to prove against Pakistan and they did it in style. Penalty corner expert Sandeep Singh gave Indian team a two-goal lead in the first 10 minutes of the game while Indian forward Shivendra Singh playing the game of this life to put Pakistan out of medal contention.
Sarvanjit Singh, Danish Mujtaba and Dharamvir Singh scored the other goals in the match to beat Pakistan 7-4, as India achieved their first win over Pakistan in the Commonwealth Games, with Indian coach Jose Brasa comparing the atmosphere of New Delhi to that of Santiago Bernabeu.
2. Will to win (India vs England, 2010 CWG Delhi, men)
Beating Pakistan in the opening game of the match helped India reach the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games, where they were to face England, the most improved team in last 5 years. They had dumped India out of Olympic qualification and then later beat them 3-2 in the World Cup played earlier that year.
England ranked fourth in the FIH rankings, were favourites to reach the finals by dumping India out. The Indian team, which was high with belief after beating Pakistan in the quarterfinals, scored its first goal in the 20th minute of the game through Sarvanjit Singh.
England's penalty corner experts Ashley Jackson scored two quick goals before Simon Mantell made it 3-1 to put England in the commanding position. Indian veteran Vikram Pillay then scored on the 56th minute and Sarvanjit Singh once again scored to make the scoreline 3-3 at the end of regulation time in what could have been considered as best comeback of the Indian team and playing through their skin to grab the equalizer.
After a goalless extra time, the winners of the match were to be decided by penalty shootouts. Indian goalkeeper Bharat Chetri then denied England’s Glenn Kirkman to help India reach finals of the Commonwealth Games for the first time.
1. The Manchester Miracle (India vs England, 2002 CWG, women)
No one, in their wildest dream had thought that the Indian women's team would win a medal in Commonwealth Games, forget gold. As expected, Indian team started the tournament in snail's pace, scoring three goals in as many matches to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament to face South Africa, who had scored 16 in three matches played at the tournament.
The quarterfinals began in the expected fashion and South Africa took a three-goal lead in the first half of the match. While fans expected the South African assault to continue in the second half as well, the Indian team though, had other plans.
Led by forwards Pritam Rani Swaich and Jyoti Kullu, Indian turned the three-goal deficit to 1 goal before defender Suman Bala scored the equalizer on the 65th minute of the game. Jyoti Kullu then scored again in extra time to help India reach the semi-finals for the first time.
India, buoyed by the win against South Africa, then beat sixth-ranked New Zealand to set up a match against hosts England in the finals.
England, ranked fifth in the world, compared to India’s 17th rankings, were considered the favourites to win the finals. The India and England women teams had been playing against each other since 1953 and it had been nearly 50 years since India had not managed to beat England in hockey.
With regulation time score ending with 2-2, Indian striker Mamta Kharab then scored on the 78th minute of the game to help India achieve in what could be termed as the biggest upset in the history of world hockey.
