Ashok Kumar (born 1 June 1950) is an Indian former professional

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player. He is the son of the Indian hockey player Dhyan Chand. Kumar was known for his exceptional skills and ball control. He was a member of the Indian team that won the 1975 World Cup. He was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

in 1974 and, in 1975, scored the winning goal against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

to achieve India's only win in the World Cup. He was awarded with Yash Bharti Samman by the Government of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

in the 2013.

Personal life

Ashok Kumar Singh was born on 1 June. In a rajput family His father is the legendary hockey player, Dhyan Chand.

Career

Ashok Kumar played for

Rajasthan University University of Rajasthan is a public and state university in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India and is one of the oldest universities in the state. It was set up on 8 January 1947 as the University of Rajputana and was given its current name in 1956. ...

in 1966-67 and All India Universities in 1968-69. Thereafter, he moved to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

to play for Mohun Bagan Club and represented Bengal in the National Championships in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in 1971. He later joined Indian Airlines and represented it in national tournaments. He made his international debut in 1970 when he was included in the team for the Asian Games in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, losing the title to Pakistan. He also took part in the

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

and

1978 Asian Games The 8th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1978, in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally, the host city was Singapore but Singapore dropped its plan to host the Games due to financial problems. Then Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, was de ...

held at

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

and Bangkok respectively, winning silver medals in those two games. Kumar represented India in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

twice, in 1972 in

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and in 1976 in

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. In 1972, India finished third and, in 1976, India finished seventh, the first time since 1928 that India was not in top three. He played at the Pesta Sukha International Tournament in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in 1971 and captained the team to the 1979 Esanda Hockey Tournament in

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. He played for the All-Asian star team, where his father Dhyan Chand watched him play for the first time in 1974, and was selected twice for the World XI team.

At the World Cup

He was a member of the team that won the bronze medal at the first World Cup in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 1971 and silver at the second World Cup in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in 1973. The highlight of his career was the 1975 Hockey World Cup in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

where he scored an important goal in the gold medal match for India against

. On a pass from

Surjit Singh Sardar Surjit Singh Randhawa (10 October 1951 – 6 January 1984) was an Indian field hockey player, who played for India men's national field hockey team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He was a full back and captain of India field hockey te ...

, Kumar hit the ball goalwards. The ball hit the corner of the post and bounced out, but for a fraction of a second the ball had been in the goal and, despite protests by Pakistan, the Malaysian umpire confirmed the goal. His fourth and final appearance in the World Cup was in the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

when India was relegated to sixth position. On retirement from active sports, he was appointed manager of the hockey teams of Indian Airlines and Air India.

References

External links

Profile at sportal.nic.in
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Ashok 1950 births Living people Sportspeople from Meerut People from Jhansi Olympic field hockey players of India Field hockey players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Indian male field hockey players Recipients of the Arjuna Award University of Rajasthan alumni Olympic medalists in field hockey Olympic bronze medalists for India Asian Games medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 1970 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 1974 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 1978 Asian Games Field hockey players from Uttar Pradesh Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Asian Games silver medalists for India Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1978 Asian Games 1978 Men's Hockey World Cup players 1990 Men's Hockey World Cup players