 The World Hockey magazine reported on the first hockey tournament played on an artificial pitch in 1975 — a trial event in Montreal prior to the Olympics — and said the surface had " enormous benefits " . Steve Ruskin , of Sports Illustrated , said that " A slow , analytical game gave way to one of nonstop , true @-@ hop action . " However , it has been stated that the decision to make artificial surfaces mandatory greatly favoured more affluent Western countries who could afford these new pitches . Before the switch to an artificial surface the Indian men 's hockey team were dominant , winning seven of the eight Olympic gold medals between 1928 and 1964 . In 1996 , Indian hockey player Ajit Pal Singh stated that despite its size " [ India ] can afford only 12 or so AstroTurf fields " . Sardara Singh , captain of the Indian men 's hockey team , said that " hockey players in India play on astroturf [ sic ] for the first time at the age of 19 or 20 and find it hard to adapt . " However , the Pakistan hockey team have performed well following the change of surface despite the country being worse off economically and having fewer artificial pitches . When describing the change of surface , Ruskin said that " for India it was like starting over , with all nations even in field hockey . " 
