On Saturday, during the Hockey 5s National Championship, Hockey India decided to experiment with mixed-gender teams facing each other in an exhibition tournament at the Balewadi Stadium, Pune.
Each team should contain at least four women players and five men players. A minimum of two women players have to be on the turf at any given point of time. The 5-a-side concept is being seen as a potential format to expand the game’s reach. Watching on the sidelines was International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Narinder Batra.
Touted as format to get more people involved and expand the sport, Batra said, “The idea is to get everyone involved. The idea is to get both men and women to play together. You get both the genders involved and your following increases as well. The reason behind getting it in India was the viewership of the Olympics. Hockey had around 525 million viewers across the world but about 285 million was India. If more than 50% was India that means that only 12% of the population watched hockey. We need numbers because sports are going commercial,” said Batra.
He, however, ruled out the possibility of this innovative format being looked as an alternative to the regular 11-a-side competition. “Has T20 affected one-day cricket? Has Futsal affected football? Has beach volleyball affected volleyball? I don’t think so. The idea is to get more and more people involved. It can be a weekend game, a club game or a community game,” said Batra.
India vs Pakistan? A wish for now
However, another way to get people to watch hockey is to see India take on Pakistan. “As FIH president I would certainly love to see India and Pakistan playing and increasing the viewership. But to sort out the India and Pakistan problem I think more needs to happen between both the federations. Whatever their issues are, they need to resolve it. FIH is always ready to support them,” said Batra.
“All FIH events, whether it is a neutral venue or a non-neutral venues, you are bound to play. If you walkout out an international tournament, you could face a two-year ban. But for non-FIH events, it is for both the countries to decide. FIH cannot force both of them. Up to my time there was a big dispute, now it is for both of them to sort it out,” said Batra, who was the president of Hockey India till November 2016 before he was elected FIH president.
Indian hockey’s recent run
On India’s recent success in the Asia Cup, where both the men’s and women’s team won the tournament, Batra said, “When I was president of Hockey India, I didn’t want to see India playing anywhere except the semi-finals. That was my message to them. My main aim was that from Asia Cup onwards, there is nothing less than playing the semi-final. On a good day you can play the finals on not a good day you can be playing for third or fourth spot.”
He also backed former India captain Sardar Singh, who was recently dropped for the World Hockey League Final to come good given his caliber. “To be honest, the Sardar Singh I know still has the potential to be at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Sardar Singh is a big potential player for India,” said Batra.