Kudos to team India for overpowering Malaysia 2-1 to win the Asia Cup Hockey Final in Dhaka! Pounding Pakistan on the sports arena (or on the battlefield) is an great feeling for any Indian and our hockey team’s 4-0 win over arch rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup Tournament to enter the finals was a sweet Diwali gift for sport fans in the country. However, India may be a Lion in Asian Hockey today but our roar is ‘meows’ when it comes to world Hockey and we even struggle to finish in the top 8 of major hockey tournaments like Olympics or the World Cup.
We have the talent but the encouragement is missing. Time to pump in a lot of money in Hockey both to build infrastructure like astro turfs and paying players well which acts as an inducement for young talent to take to this sport. The game of hockey internationally has undergone drastic makeover and we not only need good foreign coaches and support staff but also international exposure to do well in world hockey. Hope things change for the better and we are a force to reckon with in world Hockey in the years to come!
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
