Ashish Kumar Ballal (born 8 October 1970) is a former Indian goalkeeper of

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

. He represented India in 275 international matches in the

1992 Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, the

1990 World cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

, 3 Champions Trophy tournaments (1989, 1993, 1996), 2 Asian Games (1994, 1998) and 2 Asia Cups (1989, 1993). Ballal became a

household name Household name may refer to: * Household Name (album), ''Household Name'' (album), a studio album by Momma (band), Momma * a popular brand, see brand awareness * a popular person, see celebrity * a term misused to exaggerate a product, see promoti ...

in India when he saved two tie-breaker goals in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games final against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. India, captained by Ballal, went on to win the Asiad hockey gold at Bangkok after a gap of 32 years. For his outstanding contribution to the game of hockey, Ballal was bestowed with the Arjuna Award in 1997 by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

And the Eklavya Award in 2000 by the government of Karnataka. He coaches hockey players of India. In a laudable effort, he runs the Ashish Ballal Hockey Academy in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

as his way of giving back to the game of hockey in India.

Personal life

Ballal hails from the Bunt community and is married to fellow Bunt Sahana. He is a father to two sons, Vansh Ballal and Yash Ballal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballal, Ashish Kumar Recipients of the Arjuna Award Indian field hockey coaches Mangaloreans Living people People from Dakshina Kannada district Field hockey players from Karnataka 1970 births Indian male field hockey players Male field hockey goalkeepers Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games silver medalists for India Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 1994 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 1998 Asian Games 1990 Men's Hockey World Cup players Olympic field hockey players of India Field hockey players at the 1992 Summer Olympics