Kazakhs, taking it one step at a time

Rajgir: Who doesn’t love an underdog story? The best in the business, in any field, might garner all the attention, awe and adulation, but the ‘weaklings’ on the sidelines with zero shot at winning are the relatable ones because the experience of being an underdog is universal. 

Even the champions start from the bottom to get to the top. Don’t they?

The ongoing men’s Asia Cup too has an underdog - Kazakhstan, the world No. 81 and the lowest-ranked side in the eight-team tournament. 

“We Kazakh players love Chak De India (the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer blockbuster Bollywood movie),” says Lenur Vishnyakov, the assistant coach of the team. “I have watched it 25 times. It is regularly played on our television channel back home,” adds the former goalkeeper of their national side as current captain Yerkebulan Dyussebekov laughs and tells DH: “I have only watched it three times. I like it.”  

The Kazakh men, though, haven’t had a fairytale run similar to the plot of the 2007 film at the 10-day event in Rajgir. However, the team which qualified for Asia Cup after a gap of 32 years looked at it as the beginning of better things. 

“After we became our own country (following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991), field hockey wasn’t given any prominence. Ice hockey is more popular but not field hockey. But the work we have done for 15 years has brought us here to India,” explains 30-year-old Dyussebekov who belongs to the Jetisu region, south-east of Kazakhstan. 

“It is because of the schools in our region that field hockey managed to survive. I was a wrestler before. Then, one day, 15 years ago, my coach asked me to start playing hockey,” he reminisces.  

Vishnyakov too switched from swimming to hockey and fell in love with it. “(PR) Sreejesh is my favourite. Good guy. Great player,” says Vishnyakov as both of them take the help of Google Translate by speech to communicate. 

If language has been a barrier here, enduring three defeats - Japan (0-7), China (1-13) and India (  ) - against teams ranked way higher, they say was disappointing but has also given them valuable inputs to grow in the future.

“Youngsters such as drag-flicker Agymtay (Duisengazy, who is 21 years old) will take our team forward. He is the star player for us. We are very proud of him,” offers Vishnyakov.  

Apart from cheering for the top-ranked Indians, the Kazakhs have become the crowd favourite. Every tackle, attempt at scoring a goal or penalty corner earned is supported as if the men from Central Asia are one of their own. 

“Nobody comes to watch us play back home. Empty stadiums. Here they are shouting ‘Go Kazakhstan!’. It feels good. Everybody is treating us with smiles. Hopefully even we will become really good and compete at the Olympics someday,” says Dyussebekov. 

Ah, the innocence in the dreams of an underdog!

Kazakhstan led by Yerkebulan Dyussebekov (fourth from left) is the lowest-ranked team at the Asia Cup in Rajgir Bihar.