Fifty-one years after India’s only hockey World Cup triumph, heroes of that 1975 campaign, Ashok Kumar and Aslam Sher Khan, have called on the current national team to win a medal at the 2026 World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium, drawing on memories of the final against Pakistan and the dramatic semi-final win over Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
Kuala Lumpur: On 15 March 1975, at a hockey World Cup being contested in this city, India defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the final to become world champions for the first and only time. Ashok Kumar, son of Dhyan Chand, scored the winning goal in the 51st minute. Five decades on, that victory remains the high-water mark of Indian hockey, and the players who delivered it are now urging their successors to end the long wait for another medal at this year’s World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium, scheduled for August 15 to 30.
The semi-final that nearly ended the dream
India’s path to the final was decided not in Kuala Lumpur’s showpiece match but in the semi-final against Malaysia, played at the Merdeka Stadium in front of 50,000 spectators. The hosts pushed India to extra time, and it was a substitution with just six minutes remaining that turned the contest. Coach Balbir Singh Senior sent on Aslam Sher Khan, who had spent most of the tournament on the sidelines. Within two minutes of entering the pitch, Khan equalised to make it 2-2, forcing extra time. Harcharan Singh scored the winner two minutes into the additional period, sending India through to face Pakistan.
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For Khan, the goal carried a weight beyond the scoreline. “That two-week agony led me to score a goal in the last 15 minutes of the semifinal,” he said, recalling how he would tear up every night before sleep for not getting a chance to play. He went on to represent India again at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
The emotional stakes of that tournament ran deep for both men. Ashok Kumar, whose father Dhyan Chand and uncle Roop Singh were among the sport’s most decorated figures, had already tasted bronze at the 1971 World Cup and silver in 1973 alongside Khan. Neither colour satisfied him. “I would feel ashamed to return home with a bronze or silver,” he said, adding that he had wondered how he would face his father and uncle after the 1973 final defeat. He also remembered the toll of the 1971 semi-final loss: “When we lost the semi-final in 1971, coach Balbir Singh Sr cried so much that it was difficult to calm him down.”
A message across generations
Speaking to PTI ahead of the anniversary, Ashok Kumar said the 51-year gap since that triumph had gone on too long. “I would say to the Indian team: keep in mind that victory or defeat will not be yours, but your country’s. This will automatically inspire you. This 51-year wait has been too long, and now we have to win a medal,” he said. Aslam Sher Khan echoed the sentiment, framing the 1975 campaign in terms of national duty rather than personal glory. “When we entered the World Cup, our country was like our mother, and we played with that same passion. You too must enter the field with the thought that we are playing for our mother, and our passion must be such that we will win at all costs,” he said.
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That message has already reached at least one member of the current squad. Vivek Sagar Prasad, who was spotted by Ashok Kumar at a local tournament in Akola in 2013 and subsequently brought to his academy in Bhopal, has spoken of drawing inspiration directly from his mentor as India seeks to break the 51-year drought. “He (Ashok) simply told me that creating goals is more important than scoring goals,” Prasad said, a philosophy that has shaped his development as a midfielder tasked with building attacks rather than merely finishing them.
Looking to the Netherlands and Belgium
With the 2026 World Cup set for August 15 to 30, the current Indian squad carries the burden and the inspiration of 1975 into a tournament that will mark 51 years since that solitary triumph in Kuala Lumpur. For Ashok Kumar and Aslam Sher Khan, the anniversary is not simply nostalgic; it is a challenge issued directly to the players who will wear India’s colours, to match the passion that turned a struggling semi-final into a World Cup won.
