INDIAN HOCKEY PLAYERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19324, 11 May 1926, Page 8

INDIAN HOCKEY PLAYERS.

Athletic teams from many countries have been welcomed in New Zealand often before, but there can seldom have been any to which more interest has attached than that which arrives to-day, the team of hockey players from India. It is not usilal to think of that country in connection with athletic sports, but one of the reasons behind such an attitude is failure to realise that India contains an enormous diversity of people. There may be some without the instinct or the aptitude for games, but there certainly are others in whom such qualities exist abundantly. It should be remembered that cricket has long flourished in India, and some players born in that country have done great things with the bat. Hockey is a game naturally appealing to the cricketer, so it is not at all remarkable that Indians should take to it, and do well at it. Apart from the strictly sporting side of the visit, it has another interest, and a very deep one. New Zealand has met, in friendly contest, representatives of various parts of the Empire, engaged in a diversity of games. Mutual benefit has been derived from all such encounters. It has remained for hockey to introduce to this Dominion India as a sportloving community. It is not only India in the sense of the AngloIndian, for the greater part of the team consists of the native-born. The visit, in that way, should be an aid to a fuller knowledge and a better understanding of each side by the other. It holds educative possibilities of great value to both hosts and guests.