Simply earlier than the Asian Video games, Dilip Tirkey asserted that India will revert to the long-lasting blue jersey on the continental extravaganza as their main equipment, together with white. Picture: X/@TheHockeyIndia
The Indian hockey groups, each women and men, turned up in saffron kits for his or her respective opening matches of the Asian Games on Sunday (September 20, 2026) regardless of the pre-event declaration by Hockey India that they’d revert to blue uniforms.
The 2 Indian groups had first performed in saffron throughout final month’s World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands, which created a large controversy.
The choice triggered inside discord when HI president Dilip Tirkey acknowledged that the change was carried out with out the data or approval of the federation’s elected management and Government Board.
It will definitely snowballed right into a full-blown turf battle within the federation with Tirkey at odds with HI secretary Bhola Nath Singh, who’s perceived to have pushed the change of equipment color.
However quickly after the World Cup and simply earlier than the Asian Video games, Tirkey asserted that India will revert to the long-lasting blue jersey on the continental extravaganza as their main equipment together with white.
“The Indian Olympic Affiliation [IOA] had given us choices concerning the group equipment colors, and Hockey India chosen blue as the primary alternative for the Indian group’s equipment. Orange would be the second alternative,” Tirkey had stated in the course of the send-off ceremony of the Asian Video games-bound Indian contingent.
However each the lads’s and ladies’s groups turned out in saffron jerseys of their opening matches in opposition to Indonesia and Uzbekistan, respectively, in Kakamilgahara (Japan), on the Asian Video games on Sunday (September 20, 2026).
A Hockey India supply, requesting anonymity, acknowledged that the secondary kits are usually not even going to be all-blue however a mix of white and blue together with the saffron apparel.
“The 2 colors for the Indian groups’ taking part in kits for the Asian Video games 2026 had been all the time saffron and the mix of white and sky blue, which was accredited by the HI president himself.
“As to why the president then stated that India will put on all-blue on the Asian Video games is one thing it’s essential to ask the president himself,” the HI supply instructed PTI.
The rationale offered for altering the jersey color was that taking part in in blue jerseys on a blue turf induced visibility points.
The Indian hockey groups have largely worn blue jerseys for the reason that nation made its Olympic debut in 1928, apart from a couple of remoted cases.
Revealed – September 20, 2026 11:39 pm IST
