Hockey had a day off before knockouts start. Obviously, I promptly went on a sightseeing trip to Konark and Puri. It is such a humbling experience, in Konark by experiencing an incredibly progressive society, who had no hesitation in sculpturing explicit sextual scenery on the temple, and in Puri, by seeing masses from all walks of life totally surrendering to the Lord Jagannath. I have also visited Chilka Lake twice and identified 58 bird species with the help of a guide. For me, visiting Chilka at 6 am is like visiting heaven. Period. Life is incredibly busy for me with such travel, 8 hours of watching hockey, watching so many videos, reading so much news and writing reports. And still so much fun!
Anyway, let us get back to our tidbits.
– I came across Camille and Johanna for the first four days. They must have booked and picked up tickets at the same time as me. Both are from France, studied in the USA and were impressed with the Indian people. It was nice to see them in the news article posted by the CMO office.
– Me and my friend met Rajinder Singh, current US men’s hockey coach and ex-Indian men’s and women’s hockey coach.
– Do you know that in Penalty Corner, drag flicker hits with the speed of 125-150 kmph, and the defender comes rushing *TOWARDS* the ball. There are not many deaths defying moves other than defending the penalty corners. Watch it carefully next time and feel these crazy hockey balls one of these days. Then you would know!
– India is the only country and Bhubaneshwar is the only city that has hosted consecutive two world cups (2018, 2023)
– Hardik Singh started as a ball boy, Nilam Xess did not have electricity until 2017 and Mumtaz Khan (current sensation of Indian Women Hockey) is a daughter of a vegetable vendor. Story is similar for most other hockey players. I feel frustrated that with far less talent, intelligence, commitment to hard work and passion, I earned far more than these hockey players. When will this change?
– There are brothers all over in the tournament. Paul and Pepe Cunill playing for Spain, Gareth and Rhodri Furlong for Wales and Grambusch brothers for Germany. But there is one more special case. Can you believe that two brothers are competing against each other in the world cup? That is only possible down under in NZ and Australia. Leon Hayward was rejected by Australia, and hence, joined the New Zealand team (his mother is from NZ). Jeremy is playing from Australia.
– Niklas Wellen, forward from Germany became dad just before halftime in the Belgium – Germany match. His coach says that this news is better than even winning the world cup.
– India has 10 players from Punjab, 2 from Odisha, 2 from Haryana and one each from UP, MP, Manipur and Kerala.
India’s next match is a knockout match with New Zealand on 22-Jan 2023. Here we go again screaming, unfurling the Indian flag, jumping all over! Fun, fun, fun!!!
