The Indian National Men's Hockey team...
From L to R: Raghunath (standing), Rajpal Singh (the one with white patka), Gurbaj Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Dilip Tirkey (with his back at us)
We spoke to Dilip Tirkey. He shook hands and thanked us (each one of us - me, hubby, and K) for coming to watch the match. He is a total gentleman. In fact, the whole team is. No starry airs. Its high time they started getting offers to endorse products and get more coverage. A lot of people who come to see these matches know a lot about hockey, and by the looks of it are passionate about it. The match gets over in 70 mins and is a treat to watch. Why cricket is so bigger than hockey is beyond me.
The Olympics qualifiers is in March in Santiago, Chile. One amongst Austria, Bangladesh, Chile,
* s'port - Sikh's way of saying "support". (I know, I'm married to one!)
It is, after all, our national sport.
And you are so right. It has everything to keep us entertained - it is short, has lots of goals and it is definitely much more global than cricket.
Why cricket is still more popular than either hockey, football, rugby or any other widely accepted sport is a mystery.
Even I was a part of the crowd.
I really felt why our national game is without much support. Do care to read this
Cheers!!!!!