After historic performances, the season is over for the men’s and women’s basketball teams at the University of Hawai‘i. Later today the men’s NCAA tournament continues, but there’s another sport that’s getting some attention this week in parts of the Asia Pacific. HPR’s Bill Dorman has more in today’s Asia Minute.
The Philippines national team is heading for the world championships. So are teams from Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand—plus the United States.
They’re all in South Africa this week, along with about a dozen other squads, battling for bragging rights in the world of underwater hockey. Apparently this sport has been around since the 1950’s. As you might imagine, underwater hockey is played in a swimming pool, six players on a side…each wearing a snorkel and fins.
The hockey sticks are relatively small…held with one hand…and the puck weighs a pretty hefty three pounds. The world championship tournament started yesterday and goes for ten days. And while it’s not likely to get a lot of global publicity…. it’s getting some play this week in the Philippines.
The news website rappler.com says “growing the sport in the Philippines is a priority”…quoting the men’s team captain as saying he hopes to develop underwater hockey as a collegiate sport.
Last year, the state-run China Daily reported underwater hockey is growing in popularity…while the People’s Daily said the sport has sprouted clubs in more than half a dozen cities—from Dalian to Guangzhou…and Beijing to Shanghai. The international China Open for underwater hockey gets underway in May.
