Ping-pong diplomacy and cricket diplomacy — common factor, Nagoya

Japan vs India
Japan vs India (PC: Japan Cricket)

From ‘ping-pong diplomacy’ to ‘cricket diplomacy’, there is a common factor – Nagoya.

The Japanese city, which is currently hosting the Asian Games, played host to the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships. It was the height of the Cold War, with the United States and China in opposite camps. Richard Nixon’s America embraced capitalism and liberalism, while Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai’s ‘Red China’ was behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ and very much part of the Communist bloc.

Japan Cricket and BCCI
Japan Cricket and BCCI (PC: Japan Cricket)

Against this backdrop, Glenn Cowan, a young US table tennis player, ‘transgressed’. By mistake, he boarded the Chinese national team bus. All hell could have broken loose, but legendary Chinese table tennis player Zhuang Zedong welcomed Cowan with a silk-woven portrait. The Chinese leadership then invited the US team to visit China. The United States responded by lifting its trade ban on China, and a year later, Nixon was there, initiating the process of normalising ties. Sport had managed to do the unthinkable.

How coincidental, then, that the one-off India-Japan T20I fixture at Sano on Tuesday, for the Suzuki Cup, is a by-product of the Aichi-Nagoya Asiad. Unlike America and China in 1971, India and Japan have robust bilateral relations, characterised by a ‘special strategic and global partnership’, and ‘cricket diplomacy’ can only strengthen them.

The game marks the launch of celebrations for the 75th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations. It will also cater to the growing footprint of cricket in Japan and underline the role of sport in strengthening ties between the two countries. The match will serve as the first step of ‘Sport 75’, an initiative aimed at promoting human exchanges and cooperation between India and Japan, making the occasion part of a wider celebration of the relationship between the two nations.

The first-ever men’s T20I between India and Japan gets underway at 9.30am IST on Tuesday. On the eve of the match, India’s practice session was cancelled due to rain. But this game goes beyond the regular training routine and an ordinary contest between leather and willow. It is a goodwill fixture and, hopefully, it will not be a damp squib.

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The post Ping-pong diplomacy and cricket diplomacy — common factor, Nagoya appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.



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