India, Sept. 8 -- The Indian hockey team will return to wearing its traditional blue jersey at the Asian Games 2026 in Japan, Hockey India (HI) has confirmed.

The Indian men's and women's teams had donned the saffron jersey as their primary kit during the Hockey World Cup, which took place last month in the Netherlands and Belgium, and were slated to wear it during the Asian Games as well. The decision was taken on July 27, with Hockey India explaining that the move was purely a technical call to avoid visual similarity with the blue turf on which games are played.

However, the move drew immense criticism from several former captains, including Viren Rasquinha, Dhanraj Pillay, Ajit Pal Singh, Vasudevan Baskaran and Pargat Singh. It also...