Titbits here and there: Kumar has a solid fan

Talking endlessly could be a tiring job, but not for K.T.Pillai, who is a Master of Ceremony here at the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh.

“I have been doing this for almost 28 years now. With Azlan Shah, I have a five year old association. So, there is no question of getting tired. I love talking and I can talk endlessly,” says Pillai as he gets ready to anchor for the first match of the day.

So, how taxing really is the job of an anchor in the stadium? “I have an easy job. I just have to announce the penalty corner, the name of the scorers and all those information. I don’t have to go into the technicalities of the game,” he says.

“But, whenever there is a home match of Malaysia, I will have to increase my voice by at least 20 per cent to match the cheering of the crowd. The Malaysian crowd is very enthusiastic.”

Pillai is one of the two anchors in the stadium. So, while his job is to engage the foreign audience by speaking in English, his counter-part, a young lady, does the same in the local language.

“As a MC, we have to be unbiased. Just because I am from Malaysia doesn’t mean I will not talk about the other teams. So, I anchor in English while there is another lady who does it in the local language. To make the other players at ease, we also play songs of their country,” he says while recalling the ‘Jai Ho’song that echoed in the stadium prior to India’s match against Malaysia.

And how much does he love hockey? “I have never played hockey but I have read a lot about it. My favourite player is Malaysian goalkeeper Kumar Subramanium,” he signs off.
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