Ashish Kumar Ballal
Ashish Ballal has represented India in the Olympics, World Cup, 3 Champions Trophy tournaments (1989, 1993, 1996), 2 Asian Games (1994, 1998) and 2 Asia Cups (1989, 1993). Ballal became a household name in India when he saved two tie-breaker goals in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games hockey final between India and South Korea. India, captained by Ballal, went on to win the Asiad hockey gold at Bangkok after a gap of 32 long years. For his outstanding contribution to the game of hockey, Ballal was bestowed with the Arjuna Puraskar in 1997 by the Government of India. He coaches hockey players of India. In a laudable effort, he runs the Dhanraj Ballal Hockey Academy in Bangalore as his way of giving back to the game of hockey in India.