Indian Hockey & Sansarpur Hockey

       17 respondents did not mention any name.

      It may be noted that among the 19 players who have been mentioned by respondents, 12 are from Pakistan, 02 from Holland and Australia each and 01 each is from England, Germany and Canada.  The predominant liking for the Pakistani players could be due to following reasons: ( a) Similarity in the Indian and Pakistan style of hockey.

( b ) Most of the respondents belong to the era when India and Pakistan were the most dominant powers in international hockey.

      In response to the question asking respondents to name the favourite foreign hockey players who have fascinated them most, Bovelander of Holland was cited by the highest number of respondents i.e. 07 of them ( 14% ), Shahbaz Ahmad of Pakistan were named by 04 ( 8% ) respondents.  Charlesworth of Australia were named by 03 ( 6% ) respondents.  Shahnaz and Isluddin of Pakistan and Paul Lizen of Holland were mentioned by two respondents each.  The name of Tanvir Dar, Samiullah, Munwar, Azeez, Abdullah, Pierce, Saen Karley, Fisher and Fred Hoose were mentioned by 01 respondents only.

      The special comments which were made by some of the respondents in justification of their choice of the player are given below:

      Among the foreign players, whom Balbir Singh Kullar admired most, he mentioned the names of Asad Malik, Shahnaz and Shahbaz all from Pakistan.  He said that greatest quality of all the three mentioned player was that all of them despite being inside left were the main schemers of their team, where as it is generally believed that inside right is the schemer.  Thus, it shows their greatness and command which they have over the game.

      Among foreign players, Darshan  Singh  Kullar was highly impressed by Pierce Australian forward, who was 6’-3’’ tall, stoutly built and used to play with Indian style.  He had the ability of receiving out of reach balls as well.

      In the word of Jarnail Singh Kullar, Akhtar Rasool was a very good centre half of Pakistan.  He was master in feeding the ball to forwards.  He generally used to immediately release the ball just after receiving it, mostly on his left.

      Among the outstanding foreign players, Darshan Singh Sethi is most impressed by Pakistan centre forward Azam.  Azam was a member of Khalsa college, Amritsar, hockey team before partition.  Darshan Singh Sethi has says that Azam’s stick work was of highest order and he possessed uncanny ability to score the goals.

      Among internationals Lal Singh Sohal had great admiration for Pakistan’s inside left Shahbaz.  He says that Shahbaz was a complete player as he had good speed, long strides, able to cover the ground very swiftly and possessed a shrewd hockey mind.  He never wasted his energy and only when he visualised a chance he made full efforts

Filed under: Factors