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Indo-Pak brawl at hockey match

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Sports commentators often love to indulge in clichés. It doesn’t get better than when cricket commentator and former player Tony Greig said something to the effect “There’s a lot riding on this match” in a must-win game for India in Sharjah before Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar went on to play his monumental innings in a desert storm, but I digress. When two rivals, for instance New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox in baseball, Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins in the NFL and India-Pakistan in cricket, play each other, one of the common clichés commentators use is “There’s bad blood between these teams”.

How about Indian and Pakistan in hockey? [Hindu]

Good ole “raada” – desi ishtyle
img: via Hindu

The occasion?
The semifinal of the sixth junior Asia Cup hockey championship
The teams?
India and Pakistan
What exactly happened?
India was dominating early and Pakistan was feeling the pressure.

The Indians quickly regained composure despite Pakistan forcing a penalty corner in the very first minute. The outstanding display came from the defenders, especially Innocent Kullu and Diwakar Ram, while Ranjit Singh on the left-flank showed enterprise and imagination in warding off a series of threats from Pakistan captain Shafqat Rasool and Shahzad Nasir.
In the 16th minute, winger Roshan Minz fed a precise short pass from the left-flank to Gurwinder Singh Chandi who in one action trapped and essayed a delectable reverse hit from the left of the ‘D’ to give India the lead.
With even Jagwant Singh making his presence felt upfront, India looked the better side. And with Chandi and Mandeep Antil working in tandem, the Pakistan citadel was often under pressure.

In the 31st minute of the game, the Indian captain was allegedly mugged by a couple of Pakistani defenders which led to an all-out brawl.

When Indian captain Gurbaj Singh was allegedly jostled by the frustrated pair of Khasif Ali and Muhammad Irfan, it led to the players being involved in a brawl in the 31st minute.

Things ultimately got under control …

For four minutes the situation seemed to be going out of hand before better sense prevailed at the intervention of the technical officials and the referees Marcin Grochal of Poland and Al-Wahibi Thani Shaheem of Oman. Irfan got an yellow card amidst protests from the Pakistan camp.

… and India ended up victors enroute to the championship game.

India seemed to have reserved its best for the semifinal against Pakistan and Diwakar Ram came up with a sterling display both as a defender and in scoring two goals to fashion India’s 3-1 win and entry into the final of the sixth junior Asia Cup hockey championship here on Tuesday.

Congrats to the junior Indian hockey team for the victory and a big thanks to both teams for providing spectators with some extracurricular entertainment. While I personally don’t condone violence, some sort of extracurricular activity in sports is ok with me. The “calculated” brawls in ice hockey and baseball while entertaining, happen way too often to hold any real interest. But the rare minor brawls in a blood rivalry like India and Pakistan on the field can only be good for the otherwise dying game of field hockey.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Other posts on Über Desi about field hockey [1,2]


© Santosh for Über Desi, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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