Building ties between two countries through sports is probably more difficult than it appears. Sports Minister Vikram Verma said today that his government would consider a proposal from the Indian Hockey Federation for a bilateral series with Pakistan but IHF chief KPS Gill played tactical defence.‘‘We have not received any proposal from the IHF for a bilateral series’’, Verma said here. ‘‘We are playing against Pakistan in tournaments and will certainly consider a bilateral series if at all we get any proposal from the IHF.’’When contacted for his comments, Gill said the IHF would not put the interests of hockey fans above ‘‘greater issues concerning the nation’’.‘‘The PM’s statement — ‘If we are playing hockey with Pakistan and on the same day 20 people get killed in Kashmir’ —had an impact on me. Otherwise, just overnight, we can resume our hockey series with Pakistan — I simply have to pick up the phone and speak to my Pakistani counterpart’’, he said.Asked if the IHF had submitted any proposal for a bilateral series with Pakistan to the sports ministry, Gill said, ‘‘These proposals are very good on paper. There is no doubt that a hockey series between India and Pakistan will be a crowd-puller but there are bigger issues at stake.’’ However, he pointed out that the two countries have each other seven times in the past two years; more matches, he added, would be overkill.The last time both countries played a bilateral series was in 1999, when Pakistan toured India for a four-match series and it was reciprocated by five Test matches in that country.Last week, Pakistan said it was planning to invite India for a nine-nation tournament to be held at Lahore in December. However, before that, India will be hosting the eight-discipline Afro-Asian Games in Hyderebad, which will see the best of both the continents. That will be another opportunity for their hockey teams to clash on each other’s soil.
