Cricket scores over hockey, Indo-Pak test series deferred

New Delhi, Jan 11 (UNI) National game kowtowed before the national obsession and the annual Indo-Pak hockey test series is all set to be put off till the completion of the cricket World Cup.

Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) secretary K Jothikumaran will meet his Pakistani counterpart Akhtarul Islam on the sidelines of an Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Congress in Kuala Lumpur to finalise the date and venue of this year's hockey test series between the traditional rivals.

''I'll be meeting Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) officials in Kuala Lumpur to decide the dates and venues of the series. We plan to host it after the cricket World Cup but everything would be decided in Kuala Lumpur,'' Mr Jothikumaran, who leaves for the AHF Congress tomorrow, told UNI over phone.

The IHF official said there was no way the series could have been held earlier.

''The Premier Hockey League ends in March and the players need a break as well,'' he said, adding ''We will announce the dates and venues within a fortnight.'' His Pakistani number Akhtarul Islam, however, was more forthcoming in his admission that both the federations were against scheduling the series so that it coincided with the cricket World Cup and said it's likely to start early May.

''The cricket World Cup is a huge event and we don't think it would be the right time for us to hold a hockey series when the people in both Pakistan and India would be busy watching cricket,'' he told ''The News'' in Pakistan.

According to the daily, the original plan had Pakistan hosting the first four Tests in March followed by the second leg of the series in India in April.

But after working out the details of the series, IHF officials drew PHF's attention to the fact that with the sub-continent set to reel under a cricket fever, hockey, the poor cousin of the cash-rich bat-ball game was running the risk of going almost unnoticed.

Such a scheduling would be a disaster from sponsorship point of view as well, they felt.

''Marketing hockey is really a tough job because everybody is interested in putting money in cricket these days,'' rued the PHF official.

''We were recently contacted by the Indian officials who wanted to know whether the series could be held after the World Cup. We think they have a point because it would be an exercise in futility if we hold the series during the World Cup,'' Akhtarul said.

UNI