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Indian hockey fans had a great time watching the boys display loads of grit in the 9th Asia Cup and almost sealing its 2014 World Cup berth.
And after the adrenalin-pumping action at Ipoh, hockey buffs could now say ‘Dil Maange More’, and if all goes well, their wish may just be realized with Star Sports considering a move to offer a live telecast of the 3rd Sultan of Johor Cup, which begins at Johor, Bahru in Malaysia from September 22-29.
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It may be worth recalling that Star Sports has been living up to the expectations of the Indian hockey lovers, successfully providing live telecast of not just the 9th Asia Cup but also the inaugural Hero Hockey India League earlier this year.
The live telecast of the 3rd Sultan of Johor Cup could be great news for hockey lovers as it will enable them to see the emerging junior talents coming up through the ranks.
Star Sports is likely to take a call on the same soon. A clear picture will emerge in the next week or so.
A look at the Indian team’s 2012 international assignments indicates that barring the 2012 Olympic qualifiers and the 34th Champions Trophy (Ten Sports has exclusive rights for live telecast of FIH-run tournaments), and London Olympics (for which ESPN-Star Sports have bought exclusive rights), none of the other international tournaments featuring the Indian men’s and women’s teams were shown live on any of the sports channels; worse, not even a highlights package of these events was shown.
More prominently, the 2nd Asian Champions Trophy held in Doha was not shown live for the second time (like the inaugural edition last year).
The 2012 Sultan Azlan Shah held in Malaysia almost suffered the same fate before Neo Sports stepped in at the last minute and provided live telecast of the tournament.
In 2013, the Hockey World League Round 2 and 3 events were shown live on Ten Sports as part of its deal with FIH, but the 7th Junior Women’s World Cup hockey tournament was not shown on the same channel despite its deal with FIH, for reasons best known to them.
