For the first time I watched an International hockey match and that too without switching on to other channels.
I did watch the movie thanks to the superb ads by Hero Honda, the official sponsor of the World Cup Hockey that’s being held in Delhi.
The opening match was between India and Pakistan; what a match it was!! India won 4-1 and the crowd went mad. It was heartening to see so many people from the beginning excitedly sloganeering and enthusing Indian players.
Suresh Kalmadi has announced Rs 1 Lakh for each player. That’s a great news.
India didn’t play in Beijing Olympics because they didn’t qualify to play there. And they are playing in this world cup just because they are the hosts and not because they are qualified.
This is the state of Indian Hockey today.
The thing I want to stress is that what made me watch the match was not sympathy towards hockey or as a keen follower of the sport; It was just because of the ads and media campaign which caught my attention and somehow inspired to watch the match.
Media has huge power in educating masses about our heritage and the need to preserve and nurture our culture – may be it’s sports, arts or science.
So, after the match was over soon I checked into all the news channels, except for NDTV every other channel was highlighting the match and it was just amazing and heartwarming that electronic media was full abuzz with the news about the match.
Not surprisingly, even after few hours of match being over Pakistani media including Dawn, The Nation, & The News websites have not put the result of the match!!!
And Indian websites and bloggers are celebrating it just like holi.
Hope more money, media coverage, and support pours into the Indian Hockey team. That will ensure better awareness among the public and also enhances performance of the players.
I also hope tomorrow morning every newspaper of the country carries front-page photograph of the match!!!
