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The year was 1998. Indian hockey was struggling and struggling hard. After finishing 8th at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the team piled on more misery and finished 9th at the World cup in Utrecht, which concluded in May 1998. Within 6 months, the focus would shift to Bangkok for the Asian games. Players like Dhanraj Pillay, Mukesh Kumar, Dilip Tirkey, Baljit Dhillon and Mohammad Riaz were in the form of their lives. Ashish Ballal was the goalkeeper. The Asian Games, Bangkok, 1998 started on 6th Dec. This tournament is remembered as one of the highlights of Dhanraj Pillay’s career, for he single-handedly bamboozled and baffled the opponents with his inimitable knack and guile.
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India opened its account on 9th Dec, comprehensively beating Singapore 9–0. Dhanraj scored four goals and Baljit Dhillon netted in 3. The way they beat the defenders and ran down the middle was superb. After a day’s rest, the men from the subcontinent played Bangladesh on 11th Dec. The show began from where it was left. Within 16 minutes, Dhanraj scored two goals. The confidence levels of the players were sky high. There was great aggression in the team. Under the captaincy of Dhanraj, the team was leading some 5–0 at the lemon break. Once the referee resumed play, India unsettled the opponent’s defense and looked very promising in their approach. The highlight was that Dhanraj not only scored but also created chances for his strikers, who netted in a few goals and the match was won 7–0. It was really blissful to see the players. There was praise among the players and were happy with the results. The next opponents were the Chinese on 13th Dec. As things would go by, Dhanraj opened the scoring for Indians. However, the Chinese came back strong. They pressed our defense and capitalized on the evident gap in the midfield, pushing in an equalizer. After the break, Dhanraj and his men ran hard and created chances. Finally, Mukesh Kumar who scored the winner for India with less than 10 minutes left in the match. With three wins in as many as three matches, the eight-time Olympic gold medalists were almost in the semi finals. The last game in the group stage was against the then-reigning champions South Korea on 14th Dec. A win would put them on the top of table in Group B. The result was 2–1 in favour of India. Dhanraj and Mukesh were the scorers. India topped the table in Group B with South Korea coming second. Japan and Pakistan were the other two semifinalists from Group A.
In the semifinals, India played Japan on 17th Dec. Due to the irresistible form of skipper Dhanraj, it was an easy outing. Two goals in the first half, one each from a penalty corner and penalty stroke calmed down the nerves and a second-half goal from the stick of Dhanraj; his tenth in the tournament from five matches placed India in the finals. In the other semifinal, Pakistan lost to South Korea and had settled for a fourth place after having lost again to Japan in the playoff. Every one in the Indian camp was upbeat and was chastely concentrating on the final to be played against the South Koreans on 19th Dec. There were a lot of expectations from the team after having made to the final frontier. A gold medal would diminish the ignominy of the Atlanta Olympics and the Utrecht world cup. It was a dream for everyone in the team and to its loyal supporters back home. India had never won the Asian games gold after 1966 and everyone was awaiting the moment it would happen again. But as the law of averages would have it, the final did not start the way we expected. The opponents showed some class early in the final, pressed our defense, and opened the scoring. All of a sudden, in an all-important match, India was a goal down. It was the time for the tensions to touch the heavens. As luck would have had it, the in-form skipper Dhanraj scored the equalizer. The pressure eased and heartbeats came back to their normal rhythm. With the result undecided in the mandatory 70 minutes and in the extra time, it was for the penalty corners to decide the winner. There were nails beneath my seat and my heartbeat was at its all-time high. This time around, the focus shifted to the custodian, Ashish Ballal. One who watched that final can never forget the way he stopped those two strokes from the Korean sticks. Mohammed Riaz, Baljit Dhillon and Ramandeep Singh had scored for India. It was now in the hands of Mukesh to script history for his country. I was totally glued to the television set. It was an hair-raising moment. As the referee whistled and Mukesh scored the winner, exorcising the ghosts of Atlanta and Utrecht, I could do nothing but shout “Mukeshhh Bhai scoreddddd !!! Bharat jeet gaya, Bharat jeet gaya, Bharat jeet gaya” as tears kept running down my cheeks and covered my face. It was a rapturous night as there were tears of ecstasy, elation and pride on the faces of players and people. For the hockey fraternity and its ardent supporters back home in India, that was a new beginning, a rejuvenation for the game as the quest for conquering the world would continue on.
The moment when skipper Dhanraj lifted aloft the winner’s trophy, with gold medals hanging around the necks of the proud players accompanying him on the podium that day is something that’s etched in my mind forever.
