Chak De, Chake De India. Nineteen years after Shahrukh Khan, acting as Kabir Khan, starred in the iconic movie which captured the ethos and pathos of Indian women’s hockey, the brave girls pipped China 1-0 to win the Asian Games gold medal in Aichi-Nagoya on Friday evening.
Securing a berth into the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, this is a defining, a moment of truth in what has become an Asian Games where women athletes at large have captured glory.
The last time India won was in 1982 at the National Stadium in New Delhi. Much water has flown under the bridges across Asian continents, from the Jamuna in New Delhi to the Yamazaki and Hori Rivers in Nagoya. This is, indeed, a watershed moment for Indian women’s hockey. To be lurching in crises, to be facing uncertainty, this one gold medal will lift the spirits of the girls.
So, does one say thanks to Lalremsaimi, who scored the only goal of the match or to Savita Punia, the ageless goalkeeper, who improves every day?
The man among the women who has been motivating, captivating and pushing the girls hard, coach Sjoerd Marijne, deserves the Dronacharya Award. He is not an Indian citizen, yet each time he has been with the ‘Shernis,’ he has produced magic.
Just to jog the memory, when India finished an agonising fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, emotions overflowed. On return to India, Marijne was packing up, looking rather wistful.
If Indian women’s hockey is the theatre of absurd, where clowns have been in power, it needed miracles for normalcy to return. It is well-known, Hockey Indian Secretary General Bholanath Singh, who faces ‘harassment’ charges and is now under probe from a disciplinary committee appointed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
He has behaved badly, as well, before with coach Jannekke Schopmann. When she was forced to resign under duress, n one heard her. Bholanath was wielding clout. Now he does not. Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey is now in command, even as the federation is split. That Tirkey has helped the team and brought in positivity is well-known.
As for the coach, Marijne’s job has not been easy. Once Jannekke Schopmann left, the big mistake was to rehire Harendra Singh, a wastrel. Harendra was removed on December 1, 2025. Officially, his removal was a resignation, but, he, too faced serious ‘mental harassment’ charges.
It needed someone like Sjoerd Marijne to take them on a drive which is so good. If tears are flowing, sweets are being distributed, that is the mass connect of hockey. To say the girls are streets ahead today, in fitness and speed, and play fearless total hockey is a delight.
Perhaps, an ominous portent earlier in the afternoon in Aichi-Nagoya prefecture was an accident on the road route to the hockey stadium, named Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium. The match started almost an hour late, which was bizarre. But then, just as the script had to end in glory for India, the tricolour rising, National Anthem being played, eyes were moist. It’s time to search for Chak De on the TV channels again.