Being in Delhi and The Hockey World Cup-2010 is also taking place in Delhi (Dhyan Chand National Stadium), I couldn't resist myself watching the encounters right from the battlefield.
I lost the hope of getting a ticket of most happening India's match with our arch-rival Pakistan,so I decided to go for buying India vs Spain match ticket online.
But one fine morning, I received a mail from mydala.com about the India vs Pakistan match deal and I booked the ticket without loosing a second.
And finally the day, knowing it would not be easy to grab a seat for a better view of the match,I arrived the venue in the noon only. There was a long queue outside the stadium gate number 5. People were with great passion for the game. A old man aged 80+, who could not even walk on his own,came to watch a match. Later during the match, I saw him being taking out of stadium on stature due to his health problem.
The first time i found the Indian Govt and Indian Hockey Federation serious about our National Game. The facilities are really good, it was not an world cup championship but an event. The event is being handled professionally,I guess that is because of IPL. I could say the security arrangements were satisfactory.The spectators were not allowed to take bottles,bags,coins,crackers,alcohol:( , food etc inside the stadium.
First 2 matches of the day viz. RSA v/s Spain and Australia v/s England were fantastic with an unexpected result where Aussies were lost to English men by 3-4.Spain beat RSA by 4-2...By the time these matches finished stadium was being flooded with great crowd..I remember one enthusiastic person shouted for winding up the Aus-Eng match to start India v/s Pakistan match.
People came up with colouring their faces trio-colours, with flags, banners etc. There were few Pakistani supporters, the organisers kept them apart from our over excited Indian fans. The whole crowd just waited for a right moment i.e. 8.30pm.
The Aus/Eng match finished and our players entered in the middle. The whole crowd just stood up and greeted our boys with thunderous applause. Both sides looking promising. On my end there was Pakistan goal end,I could see Rehan,Sohail Abbas striking the balls very hard during their practise session. Few balls flied to public stand.
Then the time for national anthems of both side,whole stadium was flooded with sheer Patriotism.
The match started. Right from the first moment our boys seem to be attacking. This is really surprising when India plays against Pakistan. I used to watch this kind of attitude at the time of Jugraj,Gangan Ajit Singh,Dhanraj Piiley,Mukesh.
Our boys came up with really great moves. After each move the confidence level in our boys doubled up and same thing happened with crowd in terms of cheering slogans,clapping,celebrations etc. Fortunately I was sitting at Pakistan's end at first half so I could manage to have a nice view of India's moves in the first half.
Whenever India got any penalty corner whole crowd just stood up. India scored 2 goals in first half with skillful performances by Sheevendra and Sandeep Singh. India needed a penalty corner specialist after Jugraj's injury in a road accident, Sandeep Singh filled that vacuum.
Crowd was shouting the slogans like Jeetega Bhai Jeetega India Jeetega, India-India, Bharat Mata Ki Jay,Vande Mataram,Jo Bole So Nihaal etc. The whole stadium was just electrifying.
In the second half, just to watch Indian moves closely I walked to the other side of the stadium through corridor.
In the second half India scored another 2 goals by Sandeep Singh and Prabhjyot. One could see the frustrated Pakistani players. I was really fortunate enough watching the great Sohail Abbas,Rehan Butt in the middle but I could also see their worrying faces. Pakistan was somewhat unlucky when the great hits by Sohail hit the goal post and couldn't be converted into numbers.
Some mischievous spectators were teasing the Pakistani goalkeeper Salman Akbar by shouting slogans "Ye Andar Ki Baat Hai ! Salman Hamare Saath Hai" " Salman Paaji Tussi Great Ho ! Tohfa Kabul Karo" and that worked too..Salman was looking at crowd with anger.
And the final hooter rang,the whole stadium was dancing,shouting slogans,celebrating Holi. The whole team took a round of the stadium and crowd greeted them with thunderous applause. People were on the peak of celebration,using chairs as drums and the security personals were just watching them helplessly rather they were also enjoying the win, celebrations.Then the post match ceremony happened where Sandeep Singh was awarded with Man Of The Match.
Due to a sport like Hockey, people from different parts of our country come together and live it up as a Nation.
Being Hockey our National Game, we should recognize it. People should come forward for our forgotten National Game Glory..फिर दिल दो हौकी को!!!
