Hockey India’s ‘blue’ promise goes up in smoke as Indian teams wear saffron at Asian Games

The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams wore saffron jerseys in their respective opening matches at the Asian Games on Sunday, despite Hockey India’s pre-event announcement that the teams would return to their traditional blue kits.Both teams wore saffron in their opening matches against Indonesia and Uzbekistan respectively in Kakamilgahara, Japan.The decision comes after the Indian teams, both men and women, had also worn saffron during last month’s World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands, which led to a controversy within Hockey India.Indian hockey teams have largely worn blue jerseys since the country’s Olympic debut in 1928, apart from a few isolated occasions.Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey had earlier said that the change in jersey colour was made without the knowledge or approval of the federation’s elected leadership and Executive Board. The issue later led to a dispute within the federation, with Tirkey at odds with HI secretary Bhola Nath Singh, who was seen as having pushed for the change in kit colour.However, shortly after the World Cup and ahead of the Asian Games, Tirkey had said that India would return to its blue jersey as the primary kit for the continental event, with white as the other option.“The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had given us options regarding the team kit colours and Hockey India selected blue as the first choice for the Indian team’s kit. Orange will be the second choice,” Tirkey had said during the send-off ceremony of the Indian contingent for the Asian Games.The teams, however, wore saffron in their opening matches on Sunday.The secondary kits would also not be completely blue, a Hockey India source was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. According to the PTI-quoted source, India will have a combination of white and blue as well as the saffron kit.“The two colours for the Indian teams’ playing kits for the Asian Games 2026 were always saffron and the combination of white and sky blue, which was approved by the HI president himself.”“As to why the president then said that India will wear all-blue at the Asian Games is something you need to ask the president himself,” the HI source told PTI.The change in jersey colour was initially explained on the grounds that blue jerseys against a blue turf created visibility problems.