Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey flanked by World Cup-winning Indian players H. J. S Chimni and Ashok Kumar during the release of the book ‘March of Glory’.
| Photo Credit: PTI
India won its maiden Hockey World Cup in 1975 and a book about the historic triumph was released on Tuesday to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the achievement.
The Book, March of Glory, has been penned by hockey historian and founder of NGO One Thousand Hockey Legs (OTHL) K. Arumugam and journalist Errol D’Cruz and captures the drama around India’s victory in Kuala Lumpur on March 15, 1975 after falling short in the previous two editions. It captures the spirit within the team with quotes and anecdotes from the players, details of key matches with statistics and more than 250 rare photographs, both on and off the field, from the event.
The 204-page book talks about the Indian team’s repeated fightbacks in the tournament, from a shock defeat to Argentina and threat of elimination in the semifinal, to finally edging arch-rival Pakistan in the summit clash.
Several members of the team, including Ashok Kumar, who scored the winning goal in the final, and H. J. S. Chimni were present on the occasion at the Shivaji Stadium, along with the likes of Olympians Harbinder Singh, Zafar Iqbal and Vineet Kumar and Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey as the chief guest along with almost 300 kids from OTHL.
“I am sure this book has details that even we don’t know. There is a paucity of literature on Indian hockey and I am glad someone has stepped forward to record our achievements that will inspire the coming generations,” Tirkey said.
Published – March 18, 2025 07:24 pm IST
Content Source: www.thehindu.com