BLOG: Bully Batra, throwing Indo-Pak hockey off the menu

Our boys were caught in the moment at Bhubaneswar, but first blood was not on their hands. Pakistan’s coach at CT unveils the true story behind the uncouth behavior.

A highly charged game it was, India battling out Pakistan on its own turf, the semi-final of the 2014 Champions Trophy in the hockey-mad town of Bhubaneswar. With the scores level at three each, the game entered livewire. Arsalan Qadir dodged goalkeeper Sreejesh to smash the ball in the Indian net for the fourth time, giving Pakistan a crowd-silencing win.

Nailing down India in its own backyard, you could forgive the boys for sparking a few fireworks, even acting crazy would have been acceptable, but what followed took everyone by surprise.



I have been following Pakistan hockey for over a decade. The Green Shorts defeated India many times during this period, but no scratch of memory recalls such flared up reactions. In fact, Pakistani boys enjoy the reputation for being one of the best behaved players in the game. So what on field happened that day that forced our boys to switch off their homely upbringing and cultural mannerisms to put up such graceless behavior?

To get an eyewitness account of the happenings on that fateful day, I meet up with Pakistan’s then-coach Sameer Hussain. The 37-year-old former Olympian hasn't been much impressed by Indian Hockey Chief Narender Batra's Pakistan bashing and wanted to set a few records straight.

"To understand what happened in Bhubaneswar, you will have to travel back to the Asian Games final in South Korea earlier that year," he tells me.

"We played the final against India at the Inchon games and lost on shootouts, India were a better team that day. After the game the Indians were doing their lap of honor and while into it, Indian Captain Sardar Singh, goalkeeper Sreejesh and Rupinder Singh made similar obscene gestures towards a Pakistani family that were actually applauding their performance, we could see the mother and kids surprised and visibly disturbed by this."

Needless to say, the shameful act didn't go down well with Pakistani players. "Once we were back in the locker rooms, things turned ugly when Muhammad Touseeq exchanged heated words with Sardar Singh. It could have been worse but players from both sides intervened to cool things down."

"There was no media present to report this and somehow this uncalled aggression from Indian players went unnoticed, but I guess it got stuck in our players minds."

Fast forward to Bhubaneswar, things were smooth until both teams reached the semifinals.

"We defeated the Netherlands 4-2 and that triggered the alarm bells. Indian media was surprised by our surge in form and called us a swift challenge for the semis."

Enter the semifinals, the fired-up Indian crowd, known for its hostility against visiting Pakistani teams, were all set to play their part in the game, hurling abuses and derogatory words towards the players and their country.

"This situation was very disturbing for the players. Skipper Muhammad Imran told me that during the national anthem the insults were so loud that I could hardly hear the anthem play."

"It was OK if they taunted us – its part of the game – but if you badmouth our country, our mother land, that's totally unacceptable."

The crowds' distasteful tactics didn't end there: they aimed water bottles towards Pakistani players that kept hitting their dugout but luckily no one was hurt. "It was an FIH tournament where security is high. I was surprised how they managed to bring bottles in. Someone even hit me with a USB stick."

In a teeming hostile atmosphere, Pakistan edged out India in the final moments of the cliffhanger. Unable to keep their excitement and aggression in check, perhaps it was time for the young minds to settle some scores.



"I am not creating a defense for what my boys did; being a player myself I can only say that they got carried away in the moment. It could have been avoided and we did apologize."

To add salt to the wounds, India lost their bronze medal match against Australia, two defeats in two days acted like two bitter pills. They tried to sweeten their taste buds by cheering for Germany in the final.

"We played the final in a very tense situation. Security officials cordoned us, each hotel room was guarded by police. We didn't get time to rest or even stretch before the game. We did our warm-up in the hotel basement."

Pakistan head coach Shehnaz Shaikh tendered a written apology to FIH tournament Director Wiert Doyer, who at first seemed satisfied. But Narinder Batra forced FIH to impose punishments, threatening them of losing Indian sponsors for future FIH tournaments. Under pressure, FIH slapped a ban on Muhammad Tausiq and Ali Amjad.



But that apology and ban doesn't seem satisfactory for Batra's gigantic ego and he demands Pakistan to come out with a fresh apology. Sameer, however, thinks that Pakistan did what was necessary. "The IHF chief is playing a bully on the basis of India's financial power in world hockey. We apologized and the matter should be shelved."

"If they are not ready to play us, there is no point begging them, what Batra fails to realize is that by keeping us apart, he is actually killing the beauty of world hockey."

—Ashar Zaidi is a Senior Sports Anchor with Geo News, he tweets at @AsharZaidiGeo


The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of the Jang Group and Geo News