I hope to promote hockey in Canada, says Ken Pereira

NEW DELHI: Canada’s hockey captain Ken Pereira, a player of Indian origin, is hoping that the sight of him holding the flag at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony will remind the folks back home that hockey is also played off the ice.

“Some people don’t even know that we have a men’s field hockey team that goes to the Olympics and stuff like that,” he said. “I think it will totally promote the sport in Canada for sure.”

He had to fund his trip to the Delhi World Cup by selling jerseys that cost $30. “Field hockey is not very big in Canada,” Pereira, who made his debut in 1995, had told TOI earlier.

“So, we’ve got to dig deep into our pockets to make our trips abroad possible especially since we’ve no great rivalry in North America and have to travel to Europe or Asia. We sold Canadian jerseys, costing $30 each as we planned for the Delhi campaign.”

Despite ‘field’ hockey being a poor cousin to ice hockey back home, he never thought about changing his citizenship to play in India or elsewhere. “Just being born in Canada, I couldn’t imagine playing for another country,” he said. “Even though (field) hockey is big elsewhere, I couldn’t imagine putting on another jersey unless it had the maple leaf on it.”

As a child, he harboured dreams of playing ice hockey but his hopes were dashed when he realised he was too small to play professionally. With encouragement from his uncle and cousin, he picked up a field hockey stick at age 16.