What’s the story?
Argentine midfielder and 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Agustin Mazzilli has said for women in the South American nation, hockey is the premier sport. The 27-year-old midfielder, who will be a part of the Uttar Pradesh Wizards in 2017 Hockey India League, said that despite football dominating the scene in Argentina, hockey is catching up and their win at the Olympics has gone a long way in doing it.
Speaking to Sportskeeda ahead of 2017 HIL, Mazzilli said, “Nowadays hockey has increased a lot the way people get to know the sport. For girls hockey is the national sport at the moment and it's getting more often with us. Football is still the most famous sport and we all love it.”
He also said that the entire country was elated when they won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and celebrated it an amazing manner. “The whole country was supporting us and celebrating like we did. Was a dream becoming true for us,” Mazzilli added.
In case you didn’t know...
Mazzilli was a part of the Argentine squad that won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics by defeating Belgium 4-2 in the final match. Incidentally, this was Argentina’s first ever gold medal in men’s Olympic hockey and they played some scintillating hockey on their way to the title.
Argentina did not start so well in the tournament and managed to win only two out of their five matches in the group stage. However, peaking at the right time, the Argentines turned on the style in the knockout stages of the tournament, beating Spain and Germany en-route to the gold medal match.
The heart of the matter
Hockey, slowly but surely, is gaining popularity throughout the world and Argentina’s success at the 2016 Rio Olympics will help that a great deal. Argentina is a sporting nation and Mazzilli, like most people in the country, grow up playing sports.
Speaking on the culture in the country, Mazzilli said, “I think football is the common sport to begin with. In my case, rugby was also one of the sports I played for around 10 years at school, following which I decided to play hockey.”
What’s next?
The Argentine is going to play for Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the 2017 Hockey India League and is going to be crucial to their cause. Among other prominent players in the Uttar Pradesh Wizards include Arthur Van Doren, PR Sreejesh, VR Raghunath and Chinglensana among others. This tournament will see a large number of popular players from other countries, thereby ensuring the quality of hockey is high.
Sportskeeda’s take
It is quite surprising that a sport like hockey has overtaken football in Argentina as far as popularity is concerned. However, given the fact that football shall remain extremely popular, this is good news for lovers of the sport. Fans in the country will also be looking forward to seeing Mazzilli in action during the 2017 Hockey India League.
