Next week, World Cup Hockey is going to entertain millions of fans around the world. India is one of the teams participating in this tournament. However, for the Indian fans there is hardly anything to cheer about. India has been consistently performing badly for many years in both World Cup and Olympic Games in hockey. To motivate the Indian team, Premier Hockey League (PHL), ESPN STAR sports and Leisure Sports Managment (LSM) have announced cash incentive for good performance in the World Cup. I am quoting from a report of Hindustan Times:
“Premier Hockey League (PHL), ESPN STAR sports and Leisure Sports Managment (LSM) on Friday promised this incentive bonanza with the hope that "India Hockey team will be able to bring glory to the country."
Talking to the newspersons, LSM managing director SS Dasgupta said, the India team will be richer by Rs 50-lakh if they finish runners up and Rs 25-lakh in case they are placed third.”
Now, the million dollar question is that is it enough to motivate the Indian team! I am afraid that it is not. Actually, it is nothing but a PR tactics to get some extra media coverage. What Indian Hockey needs is good sponsorship so that young people get interested to come to this sports. India has a very glorious history of success in world hockey. So, the only needed at this moment is to encourage the young generation to come into this sports in larger number. Secondly, I really wish that PHL, ESPN STAR sports and LSM invest the money in the school level hockey so that many children become interested about it.
Do you agree with me?
how can we just keep our hopes alive when we know that our hockey team sucks
cant we just ride up and strt demanding performance after all we deserve it dont we 8 times hockey gold medalists what are we doing ?? time to win something isnt it we have to demand performance just like how the cricket fans did in the 2003 cricket world cup the players need to get our message ,win or get out we rather not see such poor performance at all we can just ban the team for a year just to show our protest for their pathetic performances only the do these fools ever realise
Posted by: Anonymous | September 10, 2006 11:49 PM | Permalink to Comment