The first time Chinese media bothered to speak to one of their hockey players post-match after a week’s hockey action at the Asian Games was on Monday night following the men’s team’s incredible performance that saw it top Pool B and advance to the semifinals of the competition.
Of course, with the host hoarding medals by the dozen every day — it had won 279 at the time of writing with an incredible 154 gold — hockey would unsurprisingly rank low on the priority list. But Monday’s interaction was respect earned against all odds by the World No. 22 side that entered the semifinals of the competition for only the second time ever.
At the other end of the spectrum were Pakistan and Malaysia — the former an eight-time champion and the latter an eight-times medallist and the only other team besides India in the top-10 — being dumped out of the competition, left to wonder about what might have been, being wistful of the past and pondering their future. And as much as the rise of China means well for the sport, the decline of the game’s overall standards in the continent should be a cause for concern for Asian administrators.
