WSH proves a winner

* By T.N. Raghu

The success of the inaugural World Series Hockey tournament is a shot in the arm for the sport in India and a slap on the face of Hockey India administrators who tried to scuttle the eight-team league.

Even neutral observers and hockey lovers had their doubts because the WSH faced many hurdles.
The timing of the event was instrumental to its success. Hockey was in the news for all the right reasons after India qualified for the Olympics on February 26.

Indian cricket team’s dire performance in Australia aided hockey because the fans and the media needed some feel-good story to talk about.

Hockey India dangled the carrot of Olympic participation to current Indian players to prevent them from taking part in the WSH. The HI honchos might have thought the cash rich league wouldn’t take off without the likes of Sandeep Singh, Sardar Singh and Shivendra Singh. But their calculations went awry as the WSH went ahead without Singhs.

The Premier Hockey League — conceived by the IHF and ESPN in 2005 — was conducted in one or two centres and the teams were owned by the organisers. But the franchise-based WSH bandwagon moved around on the home and away basis, thus creating a logistics nightmare. Setting up broadcast centres at eight venues was another headache the WSH had to grapple with. These issues are taken for granted in cricket in India, but not in hockey.

Matches — two per day — were telecast with a touch of class and professionalism. The late evening schedule helped the fans to tune in after school, college and office hours. According to the TV rating released by the WSH, the event captured more eye balls than the English Premier League consistently, which is not a mean record. If the statistics are true, hockey’s hopes of filling in the non-cricket void on TV aren’t misplaced.

The crowd support in Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, Bhopal and Mumbai was excellent while it was lukewarm in the northern centres. Overall, the number wasn’t bad for a hockey tournament. The atmosphere for the final between Sher-E-Punjab and Pune Styrkers was electric and the turnout impressive.

The progress of Pune to the final is the story of the tournament. The Styrkers, who didn’t have big foreign and Indian names in their roster, rose from the ashes twice to set up a date with Punjab. When everything seemed lost against Chandi-garh Comets in the semifinals, Pune staged a stunning a recovery from 1-4 down to force a shootout. The emergence of youngsters such as Gurpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyaya, Sim-randeep Singh, Vikramjeet Singh and B. Laxman Karan is a legacy the WSH would cherish.

The cash prizes awarded were unprecedented in world hockey. Gurjinder Singh, Chandigarh’s PC specialist, scooped the MVP award and Rs 1 crore. He hasn’t even turned 20. There is no doubt that an injection of cash is critical to revive hockey in India. Nimbus and the IHF have delivered what they had promised. It is time to raise a toast to them.