The Crossbill Team
India’s hockey teams will restore blue as their primary playing colour at the upcoming Asian Games in Japan, weeks after Hockey India’s decision to use saffron jerseys at the World Cup triggered criticism over the departure from the sport’s traditional colours.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the blue jersey will be the first-choice kit for both Indian teams at the Asian Games, scheduled to be held from September 19 to October 4. Saffron will remain the second-choice colour.
“The IOA (Indian Olympic Association) 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,” said HI president Dilip Tirkey said on the sidelines of the Asian Games squad send-off.
The decision marks a return to the colour that has traditionally been associated with Indian hockey. At last month’s World Cup, however, the Indian men’s and women’s teams appeared in saffron as their primary kit, with white serving as the alternative.
Indian hockey teams have generally carried two kit colours at international tournaments. While blue has remained a consistent feature over the years, the second colour has varied, including white, yellow and saffron.
“The white on sky blue jersey is similar to what we wore at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou (in 2023),” an Indian player who left for Japan on Tuesday (September 8) told HT.
The change in jersey colour at the World Cup had sparked a political controversy as well as criticism from former hockey players and social media users.
Odisha government is the primary sponsor of the Indian hockey team. In July, former Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state of playing a role in replacing the traditional blue with saffron.
The controversy over the saffron kit became part of a wider debate over the perceived “saffronisation” of Indian sport, with critics arguing that a politically associated colour was being increasingly promoted by the BJP-led establishment.
With blue now restored as the first-choice kit for the Asian Games, the Indian teams will enter the tournament in a colour more closely associated with the country’s hockey tradition, while retaining saffron as an alternate option.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the blue jersey will be the first-choice kit for both Indian teams at the Asian Games, scheduled to be held from September 19 to October 4. Saffron will remain the second-choice colour.
“The IOA (Indian Olympic Association) 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,” said HI president Dilip Tirkey said on the sidelines of the Asian Games squad send-off.
The decision marks a return to the colour that has traditionally been associated with Indian hockey. At last month’s World Cup, however, the Indian men’s and women’s teams appeared in saffron as their primary kit, with white serving as the alternative.
Indian hockey teams have generally carried two kit colours at international tournaments. While blue has remained a consistent feature over the years, the second colour has varied, including white, yellow and saffron.
“The white on sky blue jersey is similar to what we wore at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou (in 2023),” an Indian player who left for Japan on Tuesday (September 8) told HT.
The change in jersey colour at the World Cup had sparked a political controversy as well as criticism from former hockey players and social media users.
Odisha government is the primary sponsor of the Indian hockey team. In July, former Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state of playing a role in replacing the traditional blue with saffron.
The controversy over the saffron kit became part of a wider debate over the perceived “saffronisation” of Indian sport, with critics arguing that a politically associated colour was being increasingly promoted by the BJP-led establishment.
With blue now restored as the first-choice kit for the Asian Games, the Indian teams will enter the tournament in a colour more closely associated with the country’s hockey tradition, while retaining saffron as an alternate option.
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