The rivalry is at Junior level too
India is doing everything dramatic here while Pakistan is losing the match by the narrowest of margins.
As the two winless team met here in Johor Bahru on Tuesday, it is time to recollect two incidents that has topical value.
We normally assume the vices that form the senior teams do not come to haunt the juniors. Its not the reality with respect to Indian and Pakistan junior hockey teams .
In two successive years, the colts’ contests threw up incidents that need narration to understand the two-dimensional characteristics of India-Pakistan hockey.
First one is at Hyderbad, India.
Led by Gurbaj, who was suspended for 3 matches recently for Busselton Battle, Indian colts engaged Pakistan in the semis. Having lost to Korea in the league, Pak had come second in its pool while India topped the pool with all win record.
This had hastened the rival’s meeting. Somewhere midway through the second half, hell broke out, both teams for a while started fighting. The Oman and Bangladesh umpires were taken aback and were speechless at the turn of the events. A lot of field work by the Tournament Director Madhavan Devdas saw to it nothing goes beyond those two minutes of madness. He was definitely better than Grahm Napier, his counter part in Busselton.
A year later, at a distant place in Johor Bahru, a new turf was laid out. They organized a four-nation tournament to test the new turf. India and Pakistan were there. During their league match, they had a dispute, minor in nature, and was ably solved by the field umpires. A penalty stroke was given to India, and then cancelled.
This sparked off something in the unlikely place. A group watching the match from the area that separate main turf from the practice turf, got in to verbal duel, police had to reach out there, and was told at least half a dozen of those ethnic India-pak labours were taken on preventive custody.
These two incidents tell us the reality that anything can happen in India-Pak macth, and it can be on the field as that of Hyderabad or Busselton; or eve Johor Bahru.
Caution is the need of the hour on the eve of tomorrow’s match.
Not less than Tournament Director here is aware of the issue. Md. Muneer, TD here, has already spoken to the organizers and sought enhanced police protection.
“Yes, I already discussed with Manjit Singh, Secretary of Malaysian Hockey Federation, on the issue of security for tomorrow. I asked them to provide more security, which they will”, he said.