Seventh World Cup – Lahore, Pakistan (Feb 12-23, 1990)
It was akin to walking into the lion’s den when the Indian team flew into Lahore for the seventh World Cup just as the winter mist was lifting. There were expectations that four years after finishing last in the tournament, India would fare better, but other factors came into play.
“From the moment we landed in Lahore, our team was subjected all kinds of harassment that continued till we left Pakistan. Under so much stress, the players obviously could not perform to their potential and I would say it was a horrible tournament for us,” said M.P. Ganesh who had coached the team. The 10th place finish did not do justice to the talent that the team boasted.
India were forced to qualify for the Lahore World Cup. The Indians began with a 1-1 draw with Soviet Union, then lost 3-5 to Argentina, 1-2 to France, 3-5 to the Netherlands and 2-3 to Australia in the league. Their only win was against Canada (2-1) in the classification match before they lost 0-1 to Argentina to end up 10th.
“We as players had to deal with the fear factor. Due to security concerns, we couldn’t even leave our hotel rooms and it eventually told on the team. But for Mr. Ganesh, we would not have continued,” said goalkeeper Ashish Ballal, undoubtedly one of India’s best-ever.
“I think, we had an excellent team that had a successful tour of Europe the previous year as part of the World Cup preparations. We had beaten all the top European teams and our morale was high. But everything went wrong for us in Lahore,” said Ballal.
The Indians had to put up with ceaseless heckling from the partisan crowd each time they stepped on the pitch. The situation turned ugly when missiles were hurled at the players and the team was offered the option of pulling out, but they declined.
“The tournament director gave us the option to pull out of the World Cup, but I told him that we Indians do not run away from anything,” Ganesh said.
It was a courageous move that won the admiration of the hockey community, but little else by way of results.
Indian team:
Goalkeepers: Ashish Ballal, Mark Patterson. Full-backs: Ashok Kumar, Pargat Singh (captain). Half-backs: Vivek Singh, Sujit Kumar, B.K. Subramani, Ajit Lakra, Hardeep Singh. Forwards: Ram Prakash Singh, Jude Felix, Jagbir Singh, Balwinder Singh, Thoiba Singh, Edgar Mascarenhas, Dhanraj Pillay. Coach: M.P. Ganesh.
How they finished:
1. The Netherlands; 2. Pakistan; 3. Australia; 4. Germany; 5. England; 6. USSR; 7. France; 8. Spain; 9. Argentina; 10. India; 11. Canada; 12. Ireland.
rounak