'Sledging Part Of Modern Hockey'

Sledging is not limited to cricket alone and it raisesits head, albeit not an ugly one, during hockey matches specially involvingstaunch rivals India and Pakistan.

Pakistan's Sohail Abbas, arguably the world's best dragflicker, revealed this aspect of the game and said his team often resorted tosledging to unsettle the Indians.

"When we have the upper hand in the game, we try tounsettle the Indians by verbal sparring. Sledging is a part of modern hockeythough not many people may know about it," Sohail said in an interview inKuala Lumpur.

With India and Pakistan matches invariably being high-voltage affairs, even a minor lapse in concentration could become the differencebetween national pride and humiliation and Abbas said this was the reason whyboth teams try to play on on each other's minds.

"We know which players are volatile in the Indianteam -- Gagan Ajit Singh, Prabhjot Singh and Jugraj Singh -- and target them forsledging. They also know that in our team Saqlain Mohammed, goalkeeper AhmedAlam and Ali Raza are hot tempered and get worked up easily," the24-year-old player said.

And when matters go out of hand, as it happened duringIndia's 7-4 victory against Pakistan during last month's Champions Trophy, it isAbbas and Indian captain Dhanraj Pillay who try to cool things down.

"It is our job (Dhanraj and Abbas) to separate theplayers and prevent them from coming to blows some times," said the acedefender, the highest goal scorer for Pakistan ever.

But Abbas reminded that the cut-throat rivalry islimited to the hockey field and the players do not carry the grudge after thegame.

"After the game we are friends. We exchange CDsand all. 'Koi kisi ke liye saree lata hai aur koi mithai' (some bring sareeswhile others get sweets). We go out to dinner together too. Unfortunately peopledon't get to see this aspect of our lives."

Abbas blamed the attitude ofthe Indian and Pakistani fans for creating so much hype around India-Pakistanmatches.

"They make it an issue of national pride. For themit is like going to war. Back home the thinking is it does not matter even ifyou finish sixth but you must beat India. It could be the same in India... It isactually sad and such an attitude must go.

"Sports has to be taken in a sporting spirit.Sometimes you win and sometimes you may lose. Our people cannot tolerate defeatat the hands of India. One must be mature enough to accept defeat. We also getto hear that Pakistan won the match so there was firing across the border andsomeone died. It really hurts. We are not playing to hear all this."

Abbas felt one way to make India-Pakistan matches like any other regular outingwas that both teams should meet each other more often on the hockey ground.

"We should play each other more and more so that people don't make a bigdeal out of it all. This will also help them to accept defeats as we are alsohuman and we cannot win every time we play against India," he said.

With India and Pakistan meeting in the final of theAsia Cup tournament tomorrow, the excitement is again building up and Abbas said it was difficult to predict who would win the match.

"Hockey is a game of one day. On paper our team isbetter but whichever team plays well on the day will win. It is all aboutavailing the chances. Both the teams have come to win the Asia Cup and it willbe an exciting match," he said.

Abbas said the standard of hockey in both India andPakistan had come down because of the insistence of the authorities to stick tothe old style of playing the game.

"European teams try to learn after every losswhile we fret all the time and like to live in past glory instead of taking upto new techniques. We should have foreign coaches who are veryprofessional and aware of the latest techniques," Abbas said addingPakistan's present coach Tahir Zaman was doing a very good job.

"We were a little apprehensive and sceptical whenTahir Zaman took over as coach. We thought Pakistan hockey will again go downin the rut. Players are sceptical about former players taking over as coachesbecause there is a negative thinking that he may promote his own players onregional or religious lines.

PTI