| Create a minnows league
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As a hockey fan, I am keenly following the current Asia Cup underway in Chennai. There are 11 teams participating and half of them are minnows. When they (minnows) play against the established teams, they lose big-time. Sri Lanka, for example, was beaten by India 20-0. I don’t know if this kind of exposure to Sri Lankan hockey will do any good to them. It will only dent their confidence.
Although I am not against the smaller teams being included in the Asia Cup, I think there should be a methodology for this. We should follow the European example who have divisions in the European championships. In Asia too we can have two divisions. Div 1 can involve Korea, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, China and Japan. Div 2 can include Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Sri Lanka. As and when required more and more divisions can be created. This will ensure more evenly matched contests and once a team is ready for higher levels they can be promoted. To check the improvement, there can be promotions and relegations among the divisions. More spectators can also be attracted if the matches are evenly balanced.
Also, if divisions can be created, it would make sense to have the championships every year (call it Asian Champions' Trophy) or every two years at the most. Since hosting lesser number of teams is less problematic, this should be possible.
Gaurav Chhawchharia is a hockey fan and would like to see more competitive matches.
| Schedule |
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Final Standings :
1. India
2. S Korea
3. Malaysia
4. Japan
5. China
6. Pakistan
7. Bangladesh
8. Hong Kong
9. Sri Lanka
10. Singapore
11. Thailand
Sunday's Matches  |
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| TEAM A | TEAM B | Playoff | TIME | RESULT | |||
| S Lanka | SPore | 9/10 | 08:00 | 6-0 | |||
| Ban | HKG | 7/8 | 07:00 | 3-1 | |||
| China | Pak | 5/6 | 09:30 | 3-2 | |||
| Malaysia | Japan | 3/4 | 16:00 | 5-3 | |||
| India | S Korea | 1/2 | 18:30 | 7-2 | |||
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Saturday's Matches |
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| TEAM A | v | TEAM B | TIME | RESULT | |||
| Singapore | v | Thailand | 08:00 | 4-0 | |||
| Pak | v | Ban | 07:00 | 10-0 | |||
| China | v | HongKong | 09:30 | 6-1 | |||
| S Korea | v | Malaysia | 17:00 | 2-1 | |||
| India | v | Japan | 19:30 | 4-1 | |||
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SCORE TABLE |
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| POOL A | |||||||
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | PTS |
| Malaysia SF | 4 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 4 | 10 | |
| Japan SF | 4 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 4 | 9 | |
| Pakistan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 7 | 7 |
| Hong Kong | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 28 | 3 | |
| Singapore | 4 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 0 | ||
| POOL B | |||||||
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | PTS |
| India SF | 5 | 5 | 46 | 2 | 15 | ||
| S Korea SF | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 8 | 10 |
| China | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 6 | 10 |
| Bangladesh | 5 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 22 | 6 | |
| Sri Lanka | 5 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 46 | 3 | |
| Thailand | 5 | 5 | 1 | 67 | 0 | ||
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 A team should be ready to play anyone. Of course, more |
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