The Asia Cup hockey tournament from September 21-28 at Kuala Lumpur will be shown live on Doordarshan. The deal was clinched by DD officials today after several round of negotiations. Interestingly, Doordarshan has the rights for showing live all the matches for the tournament - there were apprehenisons earlier that only India’s matches would be shown. Informing about the deal, Prasar Bharti CEO and Acting Director General KS Sarma said ‘‘We had to pay only Rs 15 lakh for the rights of the entire tournament.’’ The revival in interest in the game in the country and the successful experience of live telecast of the Champions Trophy last month also led the public broadcaster to change their opinion about showing non-cricket events involving Indian teams. Incidentally, DD could not get the deal for live coverage of India’s Davis Cup tie with The Netherlands, which started today. Fixtures ((All timings in IST) — Sept 21: Group A: Japan vs Hong Kong (3.30 pm), Malaysia vs Korea (5.30); Group B: Bangladesh vs Pakistan (3 pm) India vs China (5 pm); Sept 22: Group A: Japan vs Malaysia (3.30 pm); Group B: Pakistan vs China (5.30 pm); Sept 23: Group A: Korea vs HK (3.30 pm); Group B: India vs Bangladesh (5.30 pm); Sept 24: Group B: Bangladesh vs China (3.30 pm), India vs Pakistan (5.30 pm); Group A: Malaysia vs HK (3 pm), Korea vs Japan (5 pm); Sept 25: Rest Day; Sept 26: Semi-Finals; Sept 27: Classification matches; Sept 28: Final
