India-Pak have played 166 matches, but FIH remembers only 47!

Kuantan (Malaysia), oct 24

An India-Pakistan encounter on the hockey pitch is part of one of the most sought after and intense rivalries but the world body (FIH) seems to think otherwise as it has thrown a majority of this history into the dustbin.

An Indo-Pak crunch encounter provides FIH its biggest audience by a huge margin, which in turn fetches huge money in television rights. Hosts of international tournaments await an India-Pakistan match to boost their ticket sales. The history of the India-Pakistan hockey encounters goes back to their first clash, in the Olympic Games final in 1956 at Melbourne. And over the past six decades, the two teams have played each other 166 times. India’s 3-2 victory yesterday was their 54th, while Pakistan have 82 wins to their credit and 30 matches have been drawn.

But the FIH has decided that a majority of this hockey history should be erased.

The Tournament Management System (TMS) data provided by FIH has listed only 47 India-Pakistan matches, out of which India have won 19, Pakistan have won 25, while three were drawn. The organisers at the Asian Champions Trophy are circulating statistics based on the FIH data. Of the 321 goals scored by India, just 98 are deemed official by FIH. Similarly, FIH shows only 110 goals scored by Pakistan against India.

India eye wins against China, Malaysia 

On a high after their win over arch-rivals Pakistan, India now eye wins against China and hosts Malaysia on successive days to finish on top of the round-robin league table of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here. India will play China tomorrow before squaring up against Malaysia on Wednesday.

The victory over Pakistan has reinvigorated the team that was held by South Korea the previous day, but coach Roelant Oltmans said the boys needed to improve.

“We were much stronger than Pakistan yesterday, but we need to raise our game further. We can improve on this performance,” said Oltmans. “Our defence made a few mistakes in the second half yesterday. Pakistan were able to spot and capitalise on these mistakes to score two goals. We need to win more penalty corners,” he said. India won only one penalty corner against Pakistan. “Make no mistake, China can give a tough contest,” said Oltmans.

S Korea beat China 5-3

South Korea posted their first win in four outings to stay in contention for a place in the semifinals. Korea beat China 5-3. — PTI

India vs China
Live on Star Sports (6pm)