E-Paper
White on sky blue and saffron jerseys for India hockey teams at Asiad
While Hockey India decides India’s colours at bilateral or FIH events such as the World Cup, IOA picks the colours at multisport events
Prefer HTon Google
Following the furore over choosing saffron coloured jerseys instead of the traditional blue at the World Cup last month, the Indian hockey teams will wear blue once again at the Asian Games, which will be held in Japan from September 19 to October 4. However, this doesn’t mean the saffron jersey has been dumped.
The Indian men’s and women’s teams will, like always, have two jerseys. One will be a mix of white and sky blue, the other will be saffron. “The white on sky blue jersey is similar to what we wore at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou (in 2023),” an India player told HT before boarding the flight to Japan on Tuesday.
While Hockey India (HI) decides India’s colours at bilateral or international hockey federation (FIH) events such as the World Cup, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) decides the colours at multisport events such as the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
“The IOA had given us options regarding the team kit colours and HI selected blue as the first choice for the Indian team’s kit. Orange will be the second choice,” HI president Dilip Tirkey said on the sidelines of the Asian Games squad send-off.
“It is the IOA’s prerogative. They certainly check with the National Sports Federation (NSF) as all NSFs and sports have different specifications and requirements,” an HI official told HT on condition of anonymity. After consulting the respective NSFs about the kind of jerseys required for training or matches depending on the nature of the sport, IOA takes the decision in consultation with fashion designers.
It is important to understand that the ceremonial and travel jerseys — chosen by IOA alone — are different from training and match jerseys.
At the World Cup, the Indian teams had completely dumped the iconic blue jersey in favour of saffron with white being the second option. Hockey teams generally have two colours for competitions. One option has always been blue for India while the other has changed from white to yellow to saffron over the years.
“The FIH tournament director decides which team will wear which colour on a particular matchday. Say for example, if China play in red, then India will not wear saffron because the colours are similar. In that case, India will wear white on sky blue,” another HI official told HT.
HI faced immense angst for choosing saffron over the traditional blue at the World Cup with many former skippers saying it diluted the identity of the teams. HI’s rationale was that the blue jersey caused visibility issues on the blue turf, a justification that didn’t go down well with the greats of the game.
The controversy also exposed rifts within HI with president Dilip Tirkey questioning the move, stating that it was implemented without the executive board’s approval. It also took a political turn, with opposition leaders targeting the government over the issue.
While the Indian men’s team finished a disappointing eighth at the World Cup, the Salima Tete-led women ended fifth, their best show since the inaugural edition in 1974 when they finished fourth.
