Chak De Cricket or Chak De Hockey???

What a great show by Young INDIAN Team in the last couple of weeks, it was a complete team effort by INDIANs in the inaugural world 20-20 tourney. And in the end, we emerged as the world champions by defeating England, South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in a row. All of those matches have been close encounters and INDIA not only defeated their oppositions but also the immense pressure on the young players. Every INDIAN Cricket lover felt proud after INDIA won the world cup in a nail biting final against Pakistan. What I observed in this tournament is, if one player fails in his batting/bowling, then there is always another player who played extra ordinary innings and helped INDIA win those do-or-die matches. I think this is what is needed in INDIAN Cricket these days. In 90's or early 2000s the matches were only one man shows, but now the situation is changed, the Young Dhoni's team proved it wrong. Its always a great achievement to win the world cup in any format of the game. Some people say it is just a 20-20 anything can happen, any one can win, but thats not true always, the team which plays brilliant game in a given day, a team which overcomes the pressure can be a winner on that day. Congrats once again to INDIA, they deserved to win.

The thought which made me write this post is I've seen news in the morning saying "Hockey players planned to go on a hunger strike". How sad it is to strike for the recognition??..There has always been a great discussion between cricket and our national game Hockey.

The Men In Blue (Cricket) have received a great welcome by Indians when they returned home where as Men In Blue (Hockey) after winning the Asia Cup were neglected. A four-year wait came to an end for Indian hockey earlier this month in Chennai. By defeating Asian Games champions South Korea were thashed 7-2 as India won the Asia Cup; their first win since the Afro-Asian Games in 2003. But there was no Chak de effect here. The players weren't felicitated as champions, like their counterparts in cricket. Thanks to Prathibha Patil, I think she is the only one who congratulated the hockey team after their victory.

The BCCI and state governments and local cricket associations have been showering the twenty20 champions with cash awards, cars and 'surprise' gifts, Team INDIA is not only happpy for the WorldCup but also for the raining cash rewards.. I am not saying that INDIAN Team should not receive all these rewards and awards after their worldcup reign, They should be because they are very well deserved to. But we are not supposed to forget that there are also some other Men In Blue who have won Asia Cup after their 4 year wait, that too with a record of not losing a single match. Isnt it great?? I agree that Asia Cup win is pretty small when compared to WorldCup. But atleast some recognition has to be given to the other Men In Blue. Also Indian Hocky Federation has announced 1000Rs for each goal they score and 2000/- will be cut for each goal that they concede. If we make a rough calculation it sums up to 50000 which is not at all comparable to INDIAN Cricket Team's Wealth after their victory.

"Why was the same recognition not given to the hockey players when they won the Asia Cup? Where were the same state governments? The monetary benefit is not the issue, the issue is about the recognition," says India's head coach Joaquim Carvalho. The coach said that four of the Karnataka players in the team would go on a hunger strike outside the Karnataka CM's residence.

"In future in the World Cup, if the Indian hockey team performs very well, then at that time I will consider their demands," says Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.

Mind you, there are other stars too in Karnataka, not only Robin Utappa and Venkatesh Prasad.

Eight Olympic golds, a World Cup win in 1975; Indian hockey has a proud and rich heritage. But
when it comes to endorsements or prize money then Indian hockey has always lagged behind
cricket.

For your reference, these are the cash awards won by INDIAN TEAM.

The team is already richer by Rs 2 crore the prize money for the T20 win.

Yuvraj Singh was handed over a reward of Rs Rs 1 crore for his brilliant six sixes.

What Yuvraj got was over and above his share of the Rs 12 crore announced by the BCCI for the
team.

The gift from sponsors Sahara is a house worth Rs 25 lakh for each of the 15 members of the
team.

The Baroda Cricket Association on Wednesday announced a prize of Rs 11 lakh each for Yusuf and Irfan Pathan, this was shortly followed by the Gujarat government announcing Rs 5 lakh each for the brothers.

And the list is getting longer a Porsche for Yuvraj, Rs 21 lakh from the Haryana government for
Joginder Sharma and a surprise gift for captain Dhoni from home state Jharkhand.

But he has to wait till the November 15 of next month when he is awarded the first Jharkhand
Ratna to know what it is.


I am not at all opposing cricket or cricketers, nor I want the government to cancel all the reward programms, what I want is the hockey players too should be given proper recoginition in INDIA, after all every sportsman needs recognition. What is the status of our NATIONAL SPORT in INDIA????



Thanks, and hope you liked my thoughts, your comments are always appreciable..