Thursday, September 15, 2011

Indian National game- Hockey? Pffff!

The latest controversy of the govt. with respect to the Asian Championship winning Hockey team is very depressing. I think it was 7th std. Hindi syllabus, we studied about an iconic hockey player from India, Dhyan Chand Singh! It was a biography lesson which covered the magnificent career & records of the player. I remember there was a paragraph that described how at one of the games, the opposition team demanded  the umpires to verify his hockey stick to see if there was any kind of magnet, because the puck would always be with him. His play was pure magic for viewers. Weirdly, I STILL REMEMBER this lesson and the player, to this day.
It is surprising for everyone around the globe to learn that field hockey is India’s National game! My American friend once said, isn’t cricket your national game! Well…that’s the most publicized, instant money-making game, but not our national game.
The latest achievement of the hockey game is really commendable. With the kind of support they have, they defeated our archrivals Pakistan to win the championship and when the govt. announces 25000/- to each player, it’s such a shame! Its peanuts! A good pair of Nike shoes would cost most of that prize money. Or are they giving this amount so the winning team can finally buy some shoes before their game!
It’s such a shame that the cricketers don’t come out & raise their voice in support for these hockey players! Yeah, they made loads of money when they won the Cricket world cup; money; free land; every state gave their share of prizes, out of our taxes of course! How come one sportsman doesn’t support another? Is this the sportsmanship they have? Tendulkar doesn’t feel it’s his responsibility to praise and support these players in their achievement?
The king khan, Mr. Shahrukh Khan did an excellent movie “Chak De” on the game & he doesn’t want to support the game in real life? How come everything is ONLY for money? Where are the moral values of these ‘role model’ individuals? The Indian cricket board is scared that their popularity will come down if another sport did better?
This is pure insult of the national game and unacceptable behavior of the game board & the govt. itself.

1 comment:

  1. All commercial aspects.
    It's a sad state of affairs.
    From your shoes comment, I remembered that even before the finals also some of our players didnt have a decent pair of shoes to play in as they were torn.

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