New Indian Express: Indian hockey great Hassan Sardar yearns for revival of Indo-Pak encounters

Swaroop Swaminathan

There was a time in world hockey when an India-Pakistan fixture used to be a fairly routine affair.

BHUBANESWAR: There was a time in world hockey when an India-Pakistan fixture used to be a fairly routine affair. Played in front of adoring crowds, the sheer nature of the match-up meant heroes were created overnight. It is for this very reason why Hassan Sardar regrets the complete dearth of that encounter these days.

“Our nations need heroes,” he said at the team’s hotel after a practice session on Thursday. “India-Pakistan matches produce heroes. In today’s day and age, everyone will watch that match. There has to be a series on a reciprocal basis.” Sardar, who wowed the Mumbai crowd with magic stick work at the 1982 World Cup, acknowledged the security situation across the border but opined things have improved a lot.

Hassan Sardar

“The security situation has improved a lot in Pakistan but still if India feels otherwise, we can have a series at neutral venues — Dubai, Muscat, Malaysia. But it’s important that these two nations play hockey again,” he said. In a way, funding, which has been an issue of late for Pakistan, is inter-connected to regular and competitive fixtures between the two countries. Sardar explains. “India and Pakistan had very good, skilful teams and we played regularly. Once that stopped, sponsors too started to lose interest, which in turn affected the popularity of the sport.” The former Green Shirt has a point. Hockey was once a way of life. It’s now actively looked down upon as a profession.

That situation may improve thanks to an influx of cash after the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) managed to get on board a principal sponsor but for it to be feasible over the long run, the World No 13 will have to do something ‘of note’ at the World Cup.“If the team manages to get out of the group (also featuring Netherlands and Malaysia) to reach the crossovers, then there will be some sort of interest back home,” chief coach Tauqir Dar said.

A lot of hope by the Pakistani fraternity is being placed on an upcoming domestic league from February 2019. Earlier this month, the PHF announced that the first edition of it will begin with six teams. What has created a ripple of excitement is that the league will supposedly have up to 30 international players.

But Dar, who won an Olympics gold in Los Angeles in 1984, isn’t too convinced. “I have been hearing of that for a long time now. It’s all talks at this stage, I don’t think it will happen.” Sardar, who frequently comes to New Delhi thanks to his wife’s business dealings, was also very engaging when speaking about the differences in the relationships between the two sets of players in the 80s and now.

“Today, the players from the two countries are better connected than we (our generation) were because of Facebook, WhatsApp etc. (Muhammad) Saqlain used to tell us that Sardar’s (Singh) mother used to cook paratha for him. This connection is very important. If Europeans can stay together despite what happened during World War 1 and 2, why can’t we manage that? Sport can bring people together.”

It has managed to bring their hockey side to India after a four-year period. If that gap is reduced for their next trip across the border, Sardar’s point will stand vindicated.