by Armstrong Vas
Doha: All the tickets for today’s Asian Champions Trophy final hockey match between India and Pakistan have been sold out, according to the organisers of the event.
The two Asian powerhouses of hockey will clash today at Al Rayyan Stadium at 7.30pm in what promises to be another thrilling encounter.
“Hockey fans in Qatar have endorsed the first-ever Asians Champions Trophy to be held in the country by buying tickets so quickly that the final’s tickets were sold out three days in advance of the game. Hockey enthusiasts have been caught up in the excitement and tension of the tournament with spectators enjoying the thrilling on-field action,” said Adil Ahmed of Qsports leagues.
Defending champions India, which won the last edition of the tournament held in China by defeating Pakistan, won the round-robin league match against their neigbours 2-1. Two weeks earlier, the two teams had clashed in Australia during the bronze medal match where in the Green Shirts triumphed over India 3-2, to win the medal for the first time in eight years.
Qatar Hockey Federation is hosting the tournament for the first time which is contested by six countries.
The tournament is managed by a Qatar-based company – Qsports Leagues. Malaysia, China, Japan and Oman are the other four countries taking part in the six-nation tournament.
The tickets costing QR10 each were being snapped up by eager fans at retail outlets including Virgin Megastore, Safari Mall and at Al Rayyan Stadium.
The round robin match between the two finalists too was a sell-out.
On Monday, a large number of hockey fans who had come to watch the match between the arch-rivals had to return disappointed as tickets were sold out two days before the crunch match.
The Al Rayyan Stadium hockey stadium, which was built during the 2006 Asian Games, has a capacity of 2,000 spectators.
Meanwhile, QSports are trying their best to convince Al Kass TV channel to telecast the final match.
“We are trying our best to get today’s final match broadcast live. A lot of fans have been inquiring about the live telecast status of the tournament. We received around 7500 email messages demanding live coverage of the India-Pakistani match. Now that India and Pakistan are playing in the final the intensity of the messages on social media and phone calls from the two countries have increased two fold,” said Ahmed.
Ahmed said that the live broadcast is to uphold Qatar’s status as a major sporting hub of the region.
“In any case, if we are not able to get the live telecast. We will try to stream the final live on the web. We will get confirmation on the 4G connectivity in Al Rayyan Sports Club this morning” added Ahmed. Not a single match of the eight-day tournament was broadcast live either by the local or international TV channels.
The Peninsula
