New Delhi: Government-appointed Observer of Indian hockey and Olympian Jagbir Singh has urged the sport's stakeholders to give equal coverage to India's women team that did the country proud by winning the 2017 Asia Cup in Japan on Sunday, but none of its matches was telecast live, unlike the men's Asia Cup last month. Zee Media tried to find out the reasons behind that.


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India beat the top-ranked Asian team China 5-4 in the final via a sudden-death shootout to win its second Asia Cup title, ending a wait of 13 years. But fans of the game were devoid of watching one of the triumphant moments of Indian hockey as neither the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) nor any of the sports broadcasters took an initiative to give the second biggest tournament in the continent the coverage it deserved.


Japan host the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and one would have expected the Japan Hockey Association (JHA) to be more upfront with showcasing its preparations, but both JHA and AHF failed to act in time, which was partly the reason why the women's edition of the Asia Cup felt neglected, as the findings suggest. 


"I completely endorse the fact that both men and women hockey teams should get live coverage in equal measure. Yesterday was one of the biggest moments for Indian hockey. Fans of the game and the people of India deserved to see it live," Jagbir said talking to Zee Media.


Jagbir said given an opportunity, he will definitely discuss the issue with India's new Sports Minister and Olympic-medal-winning shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.


"Definitely I will bring this up (with Rathore) should I get an opportunity. I am sure the broadcasters face viability issues, I am not an expert to comment on that, but there must be ways to tide over these issues and make sure the game reaches its audience," he added. 


The Government of India runs a campaign for the girl child, urging people of the country to not only consider girls at par with boys but also encourage equal opportunity for them to get education and in the field of sports. 


"I would also say 'beti ko khelao aur beti ka khel dikhao' (let the girls play sports and show it live when they play). It leaves a lasting impact on young minds when they see fellow Indians doing the country proud. It's one of the best ways to teach that we should not discriminate between the boy and the girl child. Both are equally capable to touch the sky," the former India striker added. 


THE CONTRACTS


In case specific to the Asia Cup, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and Hockey India (HI) are not responsible for its broadcast rights since it's an AHF property. Both FIH and HI have contracts running with Star Sports to broadcast tournaments, which is why the women's Hockey World League Semifinals was also aired live on Star Sports (TV) and Hotstar (Internet) in India.


However, there were unconfirmed reports in August this year that the eight-year contract between FIH and Star, which runs until 2022, was on the brink of a premature end on the basis of monetary disagreements between the two parties. But those reports were never confirmed officially and the contract is still in place.  


As far as HI is concerned, it extended its deal with Star Sports for a three-year period in 2015, which comes up for renewal next year. It includes telecast rights for the Hockey India League and all international fixtures in India, both men and women.


A Star Sports executive confirmed the above contractual terms over the phone.


What that means is for all India matches outside India that are not conducted by the FIH, the organisers responsible for the tournament need to enter into a separate contract with broadcasters of their choice.


Asia Cup is the responsibility of AHF, but they lacked an aggressive approach when it came to the women's edition of the 2017 tournament. While the apex body in Asia struck a deal with Star to air the men's event in India, the women's tournament in Kakamigahara, Japan, was left in the lurch as far as making it available to the audience is concerned.



WHY WOMEN'S ASIA CUP WASN'T AIRED


A source in the know told Zee Media that until a week before the women's Asia Cup, Star and AHF were in talks but apparently no common ground could be achieved to reach an agreement. 


"After that, the AHF kept putting pressure on Japan to at least live-stream the matches somehow since there were cameras already in place for video referrals, and so the feed could be made available for uplinking, but nothing happened," the source said. 


"Even Hockey India asked the Japanese federation to at least make arrangements for live-streaming the final, but that too didn't materialize," the source added.


Unfortunately, what it painfully means is that there is little concern when it comes to women's hockey, and it's not the phenomenon in the Asian region but around the globe.


It also brings to light what governs sports broadcast industry in today's era of big bucks. In economic terms, it's called RoI (return of investment), and it's here to stay.