The Hindu : Sport : The weaklings remain upbeat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
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Sport

The weaklings remain upbeat

K. Keerthivasan

CHENNAI: Nobody likes to lose. It is a feeling sportspersons dread but is a habit which is difficult to ward off.

The weaklings at the BSNL 7th Asia Cup hockey championship — Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh and Hong Kong — have faced heavy defeats, the margins being 16-0, 13-1, 20-0 in matches against the top Asian teams.

Keen to play

This, however, has not made them disillusioned. In fact, they are keen to play and put their best foot forward. “It’s not often that we get to play against such strong teams. Our aim is to concede less number of goals because we know we can’t win,” says Arif Ali, the flamboyant Hong Kong player.

With no professionals in the side, the Hong Kong team is made up of students and those employed in other industries. “We are not funded by the Government. We get time to play/practice only during weekends. It’s not fair to compare us with the top teams,” explains Arif.

The weakest — albeit debatable — of the lot has been Thailand. And its coach K. Rajan is not apologetic at all. “We came here because of the South East Asian (SEA) Games to be held in December in Thailand,” adding in a lighter vein, “I expected more goals.” Rajan says unless the powers that be show some interest, hockey will not get popular. “Imagine there are only two astro-turfs for a million people.”

Singapore performed with distinction against Pakistan on Monday. “Our objective is to concede less number of goals. Once on the field, we give it all,” says N.G. Robin, the team’s captain.

Bangladesh has been an eager participant since the tournament’s inception in 1982. It, incidentally, finished ahead of China. The question then to be asked is whether the weaklings will ever become a force like China has? Only time will tell.

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