Inaugural (Men’s) Asian Hockey Champions Trophy held in Ordos, China from Sept 3 to 11. Besides Pakistan and India, Malaysia, China, Japan and South Korea are the other teams that participated in the continental contest. The saddest part of the event is its media coverage which was just like it is an amateur league.
Final of the tournament was played on 11 Sep between the arch rivals Pakistan and India. As expected, Indo-Pak clash turned out to be a thriller as both teams played their hearts out but finally won by India on penalty shootout by 4-2.
Hockey is though the national sport of both the final playing countries but it was distressing for the fans that they could not watch this exciting encounter live anywhere on TV. Live telecast or streaming of the match could draw more attention or TRP than a cricket match as thousands of Hockey fans still exist. Pakistan’s only sports channel Geo Super was busy in showing ODI between India and England while Ten sports was showing Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe ODI. Even the event has no attention from state TV i.e. PTV and Doordarshan. What a disappointment for the fans and shame on such huge number of satellite channels.
The only source of information for the Hockey fans was sportskeeda with its live text commentary throughout the match. Highly commendable effort by a relatively unknown sport website as the government and hockey federations of India and Pakistan has failed to provide such service to their citizens.
PHF and PEMRA should really wake up and look into the matter to make sure it will not happen in future. The national sports of Pakistan must be given its due share of respect in terms or viewership and airtime.
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Cricket and Hockey comparison in India and Pakistan is sad in terms
of likeness and media interest. After all jo dikhta hai wo bikta hai.
Hockey, being the national sport should be treated well. Organizers need to
workout the possibilities of Hockey leagues, new tournaments and tours
to increase its viewership.
Shame indeed that such a great sport isn’t getting its due importance. But it’s really upto the players and organisers in both countries to generate that level of enthusiasm in the fans. Many people refer to the population of Indian and Pakistan as cricket-mad, but cricket wasn’t born with a golden spoon in its mouth. Nor does it have any special qualities to beat the likes of Hockey or Soccer in terms of excitement. Its only when the two countries started playing rather well, did they start earning respect not only from their opponents but also from their own supporters.
And Hina, thanks for informing the un-initiated about sportskeeda.