Arch rivals India and Pakistan have been placed in the same Pool (B) in the men’s Hockey World League semi-final that will take place at the Lee Valley’s Hockey and Tennis Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London between June 15 and 25 next year. The decision only vindicates the fact that there’s more to an Indo-Pak clash keeping in mind the diplomatic tension between the two nations that percolates down to the field as well.
Ten teams including India, Pakistan, England, Argentina, Netherlands and Korea will fight for a berth in the World Cup that is scheduled for 2018. The remaining four teams will make it after the Hockey World League Round 2 scheduled between January and February next year. For readers who aren’t aware of the system, it is the qualifying stage, which you have to cross so as to get a berth in the final leg of the World Cup that is scheduled in 2018.
According to News Agency PTI, June 18 has been named Super Sunday when India and Pakistan clash. The two countries have won 11 Olympic titles between them. Apart from Pakistan Netherlands is also part of the Pool. Interestingly, two weeks before the Hockey Super Sunday, there will be another Super Sunday when the Indian cricket team faces Pakistan at Birmingham in the Champions Trophy on June 4. Just imagine a scenario when both the hockey and cricket teams of the two countries will be battling for supremacy on the English soil. On June 18, the Champions Trophy final is slated to take place, and it would be a double bonanza if India and Pakistan make it to the finals.
Be it cricket or hockey, the rivalry between the two countries has always hogged the limelight. Players’ confrontation on the field is a common phenomenon. Rewind to 2014, when Pakistani hockey players crossed the line of decency by making obscene gestures towards the Indian crowd after defeating India in the semi-final of the Hero Champions Trophy. And talk of Indo-Pak cricketers’ sledging, it’s part of folklore whether it’s Virender Sehwag vs Shoaib Akhtar or Gautam Gambhir vs Shahid Afridi or Venkatesh Prasad vs Aamir Sohail, we can go on adding to the list.
Incidentally, he Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has expressed reservations over playing Pakistan even in International Cricket Council (ICC) events in the wake of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). On the contrary, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has threatened legal action against the BCCI for not adhering to the Memorandum of Understanding to play bilateral series.
But amid all this, fans from both Pakistan and India have plenty to look forward to as their countries clash in cricket and hockey, two sports that have witnessed intense rivalry between the two countries.