India had had a pretty good run in the past and have quite dominated the Asian continent. In fact, hockey was once the only sport that the Indians looked serious about. Though they have been a dominating side in the early days but the graph has gone down in the later stages.
The Indian Hockey team did come up with an emphatic win in the 2003 and 2004 Asia Cups. Reversing their previous feat when India reached the finals of the Asia Cup but were not able to lift the trophy after facing defeats against Pakistan thrice and against Korea in 1993.
In 2003, Indian team seemed to seek a win at any cost and they did produce a performance that was worth remembering. They crushed Pakistan 4-2 in the finals to lift the sixth Asia Cup. In the classic encounter in Kuala Lumpur, India went on the offensive from the start.
While it was the men’s team that grabbed a scintillating win in 2003, and a year later, the women’s team brought the trophy home. The women’s team replicated the performance by the men’s side to beat Japan in New Delhi in finals. Later, the men’s team thrashed South Korea 7-2 in the 2007 finals when they defended the title successfully.
The wait seemed to be pretty long but it did bring brilliant and superb results for the respective teams and Indian Hockey.
