Asia Cup vs FIFA
Monday, June 14, 2010
By Sulakshana
The biggest sporting event of the year literally kicked off this week taking the undiverted attention of all sports lovers world wide. But this does not mean that the other sports are put on hold. The Asia Cup is clashing head on with FIFA.
The Asia Cup first played in 1984 is seen as a one day international tournament where the Asian cricket teams meet each other to prove the best in the continent. It is a platform where some of the strongest international cricket teams in the world such as Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan battle for one trophy.
The most popular sport in southern Asia at least is undoubtedly- cricket. However, football is also making an impact on the continents sports fans and the clash of the Asia Cup with the Football world cup may mean that viewers will have a hard time choosing one.
Given the public frenzy over the FIFA World Cup, Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi is of the opinion that fans would give the upcoming Asia Cup in Sri Lanka due attention.
Talking to media persons before leaving for Sri Lanka for the quadrangular one-day tournament starting June 15, Afridi said he believes that fans would tune in to the cricket matches amidst the madness for football.
“Football is huge, but I hope after the 90 minutes of excitement (of a World Cup game) fans will give cricket its due attention and follow the Asia Cup,” The News quoted Afridi, as saying.
Afridi said that while his team will also be following the football World Cup, the prime attention would be on cricket.
“Like millions of Asians I also follow football and my favourite team is Brazil, so like my team mates I will follow World Cup matches as and when we have time, but the focus remains the Asia Cup,” he said.
Afridi also said he is hopeful of good results in the Asia Cup.
“We have all trained really hard and we see the Asia Cup as the first part of our preparations for the 2011 World Cup so this is a important tournament for us,” he said.
The captain’s statement reflects the attitude of most Asian countries where football is idolised nearly as much as cricket. The popularity of cricket in each country is directly proportional to the strength of that countries cricket team. Another factor that helps cricket to retain its throne is the fact that no South Asian team is taking part in FIFA. However, sports fans are more into good quality sports rather than seeing their own team play.
The Asian football teams have always been overshadowed by the more sponsored and publicised cricket teams and this may be the reason why the region has no strong football team yet to give a challenge to the westerners as they are doing with cricket.
This years Asia Cup is hosted by Sri Lanka who has appeared in every final match of the Cup since it was initiated, and will see the participation of the best teams in the region as well as budding new teams such as Afghanistan.
The tenth Asia Cup will be played from June 15-24 in Dambulla, in central Sri Lanka, about 150 kilometres northeast of capital Colombo, coinciding with the month-long FIFA world cup, which kicked off in South Africa this Friday.
Labels: Asia Cup, Cricket, FIFA, Shahid Afridi, Sri Lanka
posted @ 11:01 AM,
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