Thanks to Joaquim Carvalho's timely outburst against 'discrimination', many organisations and the centre have woken up to acknowledge the Asia Cup hockey win.
Film star MP Raj Babbar is going to felicitate the players in Agra on on October 31. The team will then travel to New Delhi to meet the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on November 1. Then, they will be felicitated by the Bombay Hockey Association two days later. Then, they will be honoured by the State Bank of India and be awarded a cash prize of Rs 5 Lac each.
Celebrating the hockey team's achievement is a welcome move. But they must soon get down to business — the Olympic qualifiers in March.
Counterpoint
Every once in a while, there are murmurs and reminders that hockey is India's national sport — an honour bestowed for the sole reason that, when a young, independent India had to pick something for sporting glory, hockey was the only game visible. Since then, except for the occasional upset victory, the national sport has been slipping in the national consciousness.
The question is: would even a world title in the sport spark off the kind of craze that the T20 title did in India? Or have things gone beyond salvage?
Monday, October 22, 2007
A positive turn? Or a passing phase?
Posted at 6:08 PM
Labels: Indian Hockey
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3 comments:
I think the hockey guys doth protest too much! After all, they lost everything after the last time they won the Asia Cup. Consistency is probably required and a change in the IHF!
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