{"id":272676,"date":"2025-04-03T01:20:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T01:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/hockey-how-a-1971-india-pakistan-war-hero-inspired-a-goalkeepers-return-to-national-team\/"},"modified":"2025-04-03T01:20:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T01:20:31","slug":"hockey-how-a-1971-india-pakistan-war-hero-inspired-a-goalkeepers-return-to-national-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/hockey-how-a-1971-india-pakistan-war-hero-inspired-a-goalkeepers-return-to-national-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Hockey: How a 1971 India-Pakistan war hero inspired a goalkeeper\u2019s return to national team"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TWO YEARS ago, national hockey goalkeeper Suraj Karkera, an avid reader, chanced upon the memoir of India\u2019s 1971 war hero, (Retd) Major General Ian Cardozo. Even before Karkera had turned the final page of the book, he had tracked down the war veteran.<\/p>\n

The series of conversations since then between the 29-year-old and the 87-year-old kept Karkera, who was then going through one of the most challenging phases of his career, motivated to fight for a permanent spot in India\u2019s hockey team, which he finally earned last year after spending almost eight years on the fringes.<\/p>\n

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For Cardozo, whose leg had to be amputated on the battlefield during the 1971 India-Pakistan war, meeting Karkera was a chance to reconnect with a sport he had grown up playing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUntil two years ago, we didn\u2019t know each other at all,\u201d Cardozo tells The Indian Express<\/a>. \u201cNow, we have adopted him as our protege.\u201d<\/p>\n

Says Karkera, \u201cWhen I reached out to him, my mental space was like, \u2018I would like to have that spark again\u2019. Of course, I was training and this and that but you tend to be a bit distracted\u2026 what will happen in the future and such.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karkera\u2019s concerns about his future were not unfounded. Despite being a constant in the core group of the national hockey team for a better part of the last decade, the goalkeeper was third in the pecking order behind the modern-day great P R Sreejesh and Krishan Pathak.<\/p>\n

With only two spots reserved for goalkeepers in a squad of 18 for international competitions \u2014 and just one in the 16-member Olympics team \u2014 Karkera was invariably left out for big assignments. The only time he got uninterrupted chances to play for the national team was in 2017-18, when Sreejesh, the first-choice keeper, was out with an injury.<\/p>\n

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Karkera \u2014 spotted by Merzban Patel, the legendary coach from Mumbai<\/a>, and later mentored by former India custodian Dipika Murthy \u2014 patiently waited for his turn, aware that it was routine for goalkeepers to go through this grind. His chance finally came after Sreejesh retired at the end of the Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n

In the last five months, he has played 17 matches, nearly as many as he did in the five years before that (19), and has featured in every game of the recently concluded India leg of the FIH Pro League. \u201cIt shows your character\u2026what you are going to do when things are not going your way.\u201d Karkera says of the long waiting period. \u201cThese are testing times. You need patience and resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

During this phase, as he discovered the world of books, Karkera immersed himself in the extraordinary tales of South Africa\u2019s 1995 rugby World Cup triumph. But it was in Cardozo\u2019s life story, Cartoos Saab: A Soldier\u2019s Story of Resilience in Adversity, that he found the inspiration he needed.<\/p>\n

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Maj Gen Cardozo fought three wars: 1962, 1965 and, most notably, the India-Pakistan war of 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh. In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Sylhet, Cardozo is known to have stepped on a landmine, following which his leg had to be amputated. He went on to become the first war-disabled officer to be approved for command of an Infantry Battalion.<\/p>\n

Despite the years that separated them, Karkera realised he had much in common with Cardozo \u2014 like him, the retired Maj General was a \u201cBombay boy\u201d and played hockey in his younger days. Besides, they were both Armymen \u2014 Karkera is a naik subedar.<\/p>\n

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He then got in touch with Cardozo through Meghna Girish \u2014 mother of Major Akshay Girish, who died in the 2016 terror attack on the Army\u2019s Nagrota base \u2014 who put him in touch with Cardozo\u2019s wife, Priscilla. \u201cHe came to us as an absolute stranger,\u201d Priscilla says. \u201cThere are many such requests so I don\u2019t say yes to everyone. But Suraj was down-to-earth, friendly and genuine, so both of us took to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karkera flew down to New Delhi<\/a>, where Cardozo now lives, to meet him. Karkera calls him a man \u201c100 years ahead of his time\u201d and spent hours listening to Cardozo\u2019s stories from the battlefield \u2014 \u201cit\u2019s goosebumps\u201d \u2014 as he tried to understand how he coped with pressure situations, which he thought he could put to practice on the hockey field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a certain perspective about things \u2014 black or white and no grey. So it helped me to refocus on reality rather than being distracted,\u201d Karkera says.<\/p>\n

Cardozo liked it that Karkera \u201cwasn\u2019t arrogant\u201d and was prepared to learn. \u201cI told him that sport is like war and you can\u2019t go into a war unless you are prepared. So you have got to train, train very hard, so you are the best. But training by itself is not good enough. You need to understand what makes you win \u2014 winning is important. It\u2019s all very well to say, \u2018play the game, play for the country\u2019. No, no. It\u2019s stupid if you play to lose. You have to play to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cardozo adds: \u201cI told him you need to be the best. If you are doing something in life, there\u2019s no point being the second-best because, in war, there is no such thing \u2014 you are either a victor or you are defeated. But this doesn\u2019t mean you cheat. You have to follow certain ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since their first meeting two years ago, they have remained in constant touch, talking about hockey and life. \u201cWhenever I have a problem, I tell him,\u201d Karkera says. The Cardozos, too, have grown fond of him, rooting for him every time he steps on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know him two years ago. Now, we have a soft corner for Suraj,\u201d says Priscilla.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n