Former India Hockey Captain BP Govinda believes the Indian Team led by Manpreet Singh are poised to stand on the podium in Tokyo.
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Legendary centre-forward BP Govinda was full of praise for the current Indian hockey team led by Manpreet Singh, which will soon be seen representing the nation in the Tokyo Olympics. Govinda hailed the players for playing consistently in the past two years, adding that they have shown a lot of promise. The former hockey star urged the Indian team to take every match as it comes, with reaching the quarterfinals being the first aim.
“They have been playing consistently in the past two years, and they have shown a lot of promise. But my advice to them is to take it match-by-match and their first aim should be to make the Quarterfinals. I would say, once they have crossed that hurdle, it is anybody’s game in the Semis and Final. This team has been doing well under Graham and have shown that they are capable of beating big teams like Australia, Netherlands, Belgium and even the Olympic Champions Argentina. I have no doubt that they can perform well in Tokyo,” said Govinda as quoted by Hockey India’s official website.
Less than 30 days are left for the Tokyo Olympics, which is certainly increasing the excitement in the hearts of the fans with every passing day. Govinda, who is also part of Hockey India‘s National Selection Committee, shared a few experiences from his journey.
“Our Coach KD Singh Babu made me play as outside-left in the Bronze Medal match against the Netherlands. All through the tournament in Munich, I had played as centre-forward, but our Coach insisted I change my position for this match, and it so happened that I scored the equaliser and then Mukhbain Singh scored the winning goal through a penalty corner which helped us win the match 2-1,” he recalled.
The legendary hockey player further shared the few regrets he still remembered. Govinda was set to play for the World XI side at the Munich Games, which was later called off due to a terrorist attack.
“West Germany had beaten Pakistan in the Final to become the new Olympic Champions and the organizers had planned an exhibition match between World XI and the Olympic Champions. I was chosen from India to play for the World XI side but due to the Black September incident, they called off that match. Though there was no safety concern for us within the village, our contingent was quite close to where this incident happened,” he said.
Govinda further expressed his sadness after missing the penalty stroke against Pakistan in the 1973 World Cup in Amstelveen.
“I had scored the only goal (in the 62nd minute) against Pakistan in the Semis and that goal of mine took India to the Final against Netherlands. I had become an instant hero back home but unfortunately; I couldn’t replicate that in the Final. Surjit Singh had scored two goals and the score was level at 2-2 when we earned a penalty stroke towards the dying minutes of the match. But Harmik Singh, Ajitpal nobody was coming forward to take the penalty stroke. I told (teammate) MP Ganesh, no one is going so shall I go? I went voluntarily. Before taking the strike, I had decided I will hit to the left corner of the goalkeeper but when I lifted my stick, it went underneath the grass, and the ball didn’t connect properly to the stick. My shot didn’t even reach the goalie. We lost the opportunity, and the match went into extra time, and we eventually lost,” he concluded.
