Well Done Boys

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Well done Boys!
Kudos to Indian Junior Hockey Team which won the World Cup at Hobart, Australia recently. On the way to final they dethroned formidable Holland and hot favourites Germany. It is after a long gap of more than a quarter century that India is winning a world title in hockey after their senior team won the world cup way back in 1975. Though India won the Olympic Hockey Gold Medal at 1980 Moscow Olympics, it is worth only 12 carat gold, because several Hockey stalwarts like Germany, Pakistan, Australia, Holland etc did not participate in that Olympics. The victory is sweeter as in the last edition of the junior world cup Hockey at Milton Keynes, India lost the final by a whisker losing to Australia by a slender 3-2 margin. This is a victory of the continental style of Hockey.
It is heartening to note that India won by a decisive margin of 6-1. Rarely had a team won the final of a world championship with such a convincing margin. This is also a welcome departure from our common weakness of crumbling at crucial moments. The victory has proved beyond doubt that Hockey is still in our blood and there is abundance of talent in the country. Though Hockey is our national game, it is a neglected sport in India. If the authorities and media give little more consideration, facility and rewards to the Hockey players, there is not an iota of doubt that the India’s golden days in Hockey will emerge again. Our primary task now should be to regain the Hockey Gold in the 2004 Olympics.
However, the country’s national television-Doordarshan played a spoilsport by completely ignoring this prestigious championship, thereby depriving millions of Hockey fans to have a glimpse of the glorious moments. Inspite of the fact that the country’s national team is playing in the final, Doordarshan did not felt it expedient to show the match live. These things will not happen in any other country other than India. Earlier in 1997 also Doordarshan did not show live telecast of the final. This is also an indication of our lack of national pride. Indian Hockey Federation cannot also wash their hands from this fiasco as they should have made advance arrangements with Doordarshan. The fact that many lesser known tournaments and other tournaments where India has no stake at all, are telecast live adds insults to injury. Doordarshan’s policy (If at all there is a policy) of telecasting sports programmes is not understood.



(E..M.ADITHYAN)
October 26, 2001
Elangalloor Mana
Edapal-679 576
Kerala