"[1] Of the event, journalist Anand Philar stated, "I had covered the 7-1 drubbing Pakistan handed out to India in the 1982 Asian Games final, which turned goalkeeper Negi's life upside down.

"[3] Former captain Zafar Iqbal later stated, "The entire team was to blame; we forwards missed chances, the defence left huge gaps that the Pakistanis exploited.

[4] He returned as a goalkeeping coach for the 1998 Asian Games in which the India men's national field hockey team won the Gold.

[1] Four years later, Negi was hired to be the goalkeeping coach of the India women's national field hockey team.

[1] He was also the assistant coach for the Women's team when it won the Gold at the 2004 Hockey Asia Cup.

Sahni had read an article about the winning of the Gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games by the India women's national field hockey team and thought that the premise would make an interesting film.

It is in fact the story of a team that becomes a winning lot from a bunch of hopeless girls [...] There is nothing called World Championships in international hockey.

"[12] Sahni also contacted Negi and asked him to coach the actors portraying the hockey team.

While not initially enthusiastic about being involved in the film, Negi changed his mind after reading the screenplay.

[13] Negi also had to train Shahrukh Khan for the film stating, "I had to plan every hockey move shown in the movie, including the penalty stroke that SRK missed.

He reached the semifinals against the TV actors Sandhya Mridul, Prachee Desai and Jai Bhanushali.

Mr Negi as he was affectionately referred to by the judges surprised everybody by his dedication despite being the oldest contestant.