Can Indian hockey make it count at the Tokyo Olympics?

Tokyo Olympics - The lucky ground for Team India

Tokyo Olympics - A Lucky ground for Team India

Tokyo has been a lucky place for India, both in terms of diplomacy and sports. Though India had won a silver medal in the inaugural edition of field hockey at the Asian Games in 1958, the equations would change by the Tokyo Olympics, which took place in October 1964.

That year, when the hockey teams assembled for the Tokyo Olympics, India going through turbulence air. The establishment had little faith in new PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, and the media cast doubt on whether the team would even make it beyond the league stage, let alone reach the finals. However, the men had other plans.

Demolishing every obstacle ruthlessly, they made it to the finals, where they fought tooth-and-nail against Pakistan for their seventh gold medal. Armyman Mohinder Lal converted a penalty stroke into the match-winning goal, scooping it past Pakistani goalkeeper Abdul Hamid. As such, the golden memories of that triumphant occasion will certainly be in the minds of the Indian players as they try their luck out at Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo.