he Habib Bank 20th Champions Trophy took place from October 31 - November 8, 1998 at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore.

The points table after the league stage (tabulated as matches played, won, lost, draw, goals for, goals against, points - 3 for a win, 1 for a draw) was as follows:

            M W L D F  A  P
Holland     5 4 1 0 19 10 12
Pakistan    5 2 1 2 17 14 8
Australia   5 2 1 2 11 10 8
South Korea 5 2 1 2 14 15 8
Spain       5 1 3 1 13 15 4
Germany     5 0 4 1 7  17 1  

It was a close contest between Australia and Pakistan for the second finalist spot. Australia, unbeaten after its first four matches, needed a draw in its last match against Holland. However Australia lost, which meant that Pakistan had to draw or lose its final match against Germany for Australia to get through. Pakistan won its final match against Germany to put them in the championship game.

Thus the 1990 Lahore World Cup finalists Holland and Pakistan met again in the 1998 Lahore Champions Trophy finals.

he Road to the Final of Holland and Pakistan was as follows:

Netherlands	Pakistan
beat Spain 3-2	lost to South Korea 4-4
beat Germany 4-2	drew with Spain 2-2
beat South Korea 5-0	drew with Australia 4-4
lost to Pakistan 3-5	beat Netherlands 5-3
beat Australia 4-1	beat Germany 3-1

In the final, Holland defeated Pakistan 3-1 in front of a 40,000 strong Pakistani crowd to win the 20th Champions Trophy. The Dutch team thus picked up the third jewel in the hockey triple crown. The Netherlands are also World Champions (Utrecht 1998) and Olympic Champions (Atlanta 1996) - the only men's team to hold all 3 world titles at once.

Inside-right Atif Bashir put Pakistan in the lead in the 12th minute when he took a rebound from Sohail Abbas's penalty corner push. Bram Lomans equalized for Holland off a penalty corner. Piet Geeris scored the go-ahead goal in the 25th minute, converting a fine pass from Remco van Wijk, who dodged three Pakistani defenders on a solo move. Marten Eikelboom completed the Dutch tally when he sneaked the ball in the goal from Remco van Wijk's pass with two minutes left.

Earlier, Australia finished third by outlasting South Korea on penalty stroke sudden death 9-8, while Spain finished fifth by scoring a golden goal to beat Germany 3-2.

Atif Bashir was declared best player of the tournament while the trophy for fair play went to South Korea. Bram Lomans of Holland and Juan Escarre of Spain finished as top scorers of the tournament with 7 goals each. The final standings of the Habib Bank 20th Champions Trophy were:

1. Holland
2. Pakistan
3. Australia
4. South Korea
5. Spain
6. Germany
   
   

ermany has won the Champions Trophy a record 7 times. Germany is closely followed by Australia, which has won the tournament 6 times. Holland, with this win, has won the competition 4 times (1981, 1982, 1996 and 1998), while Pakistan has won the Champions Trophy 3 times, once in each of the last three decades (1978 under Islahuddin, 1980 under Munawaruz Zaman and 1994 under Shahbaaz Ahmed).

Pakistan has organized the Champions Trophy 10 times, of which Lahore has hosted the event 4 times. Australia has organized the tournament 3 times, Holland twice, and Germany, Malaysia and India once each.

13 teams have so appeared in the different editions. Pakistan and Australia 19 times, Germany and Holland 17 times, Britain 14 times, Spain 10 times and India 8 times.

The top goal-scorer of the Champions Trophy is Floris-Jan Bovelander of Holland with 29 goals and a record 4 hat tricks in 7 tournaments. Germany's Carsten Fischer has also scored 29 goals but he appeared in 9 tournaments and netted 1 hat trick.

Courtesy hockey statistician S. A. Razi

n FIH Disciplinary Committee met in Brussels and after a two hour meeting concluded that England's decision to withdraw its team from the 20th Men's Champions Trophy in Lahore, Pakistan was made on justifiable grounds.

The Committee concluded that: "the withdrawal was the result of circumstances beyond the control of the English Hockey Association, and was made having regard for their responsibility as a hockey association representing the best interests of their players and officials." The Committee's report further stated it was "unanimously of the opinion that the decision to withdraw was made in good faith."

Later, the FIH Competitions Committee decided to include England among the panel of participants for the 21st Men’s Champions Trophy scheduled for 10-20 June 1999 in Brisbane, Australia. This dashed the hopes of Canada, who were hoping to participate in the Brisbane Champions Trophy if England was barred.

The panel of participants for the men’s tournament in Brisbane will include the top five finishing teams from Lahore – Netherlands, Pakistan, Australia, Korea and Spain – along with England. Germany, which finished sixth and last in Lahore, has been dropped from the 1999 event as per the Champions Trophy Tournament regulations. Germany however will be the first reserve team for the 2000 Men’s Champions Trophy to be held in the Netherlands.

ustralian hockey legend Ric Charlesworth says the game is in danger of dying because it has not been sold and marketed properly. Charlesworth, coach of the Australian women's team, was in Lahore for the Champions Trophy men's tournament.

"I think field hockey is in danger of dying as it has not been marketed properly. Don't expect people to come to you and give money. You have to make it a saleable product," said Charlesworth, a former Australian captain.

He blamed the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and administrators in each country for the loss. "Look at the crowds here. It's disappointing just because the event is not sold properly," he said.

Few people have turned up to watch matches, as the Champions Trophy clashed with the International Cup cricket tournament in Dhaka, which was shown daily on television.

Charlesworth blamed the downward slide in the standard of hockey in the subcontinent on a lack of planning and imagination. "I learnt all my hockey from people who came from the subcontinent, but now Pakistan and India are looking in the past rather than in the future," he said.

ercurial forward Dhanraj Pillai has been retained as captain of the 16-member Indian men's hockey team for the 13th Asian Games to be held in Bangkok from December 6 to 20.

Olympian Ashish Ballal and half-back Sandeep Somesh, in the wilderness for the last two years, and forward Sameer Dad have been included in the team, while forward Gagan Ajit Singh, goalkeeper Jude Menezes and Cheops D'Costa, who played in the Commonwealth Games, have been dropped. Mohammad Riaz's attacking skill has resulted in him being shifted to a forward. The team is as follows:

Domestic Team	Players Selected
Indian Airlines	A. B. Subbaiah, Ashish Ballal, Dilip Tirkey Lazarus Barla, Mohammed Riaz, Mukesh Kumar Sameer Dad
Mumbai	Sandeep Somesh, Dhanraj Pillai, Sabu Varkey
Punjab	Ramandeep Singh, Baljit Singh Dhillon
Tamil Nadu	Thirumal Valavan, L. Prabhakaran
Air India	Anil Aldrin
PSB	Baljit Singh Saini
Officials	Chief Coach : Maharaj Kishan Kaushik Assistant Coach : Mir Ranjan Negi Coaching Advisor : Merwyn Fernandes Manager : M. S. Mullick (Haryana)

tar forward Pritam Rani Thakran will lead the Indian women's hockey team at the 13th Asian Games to be held in Bangkok from December 6 to 20. The team was selected from a two-week camp at Patiala which had commenced on October 21. The team, which has 11 members from the Railways alone, is as follows:

Domestic Team	Players Selected
Railways	Tingongleima Chanu, Helen Mary, Sandeep Kaur Mary Stella Tirkey Sita Gussain, Suraj Lata Devi Nidhi Khullar, Manjinder Kaur, Kamala Dalal Preetam Rani Thakran, Jyoti Sunita Kullu
Haryana	Surinder Kaur
Mumbai	Lakshmi Sree
Chandigarh	Sunita Dalal
Punjab	Amandeep Kaur
Uttar Pradesh	Neha Singh
Officials	Chief Coach : G. S. Bhangu Assistant Coach : N. S. Saini Manager : Dr. Roopa Saini

he Indian men's team have been placed in Pool B, alongside Bangladesh, China, Korea and Singapore in the Bangkok Asian Games tournament. Earlier, archrivals India and Paksitan were placed in the same group. However, following Uzbekistan's and Sri Lanka's withdrawal, the fixtures have been rearranged twice.

The pool groupings for the men's and women's teams are as follows:

Men	Pool A	Pool B
	Pakistan Malaysia Japan Hong Kong Thailand	South Korea India Bangladesh China Singapore
Women	Pool A	Pool B
	South Korea Japan Thailand Uzbekistan	India China Sri Lanka Kazhakastan

The schedule of the Indian men's and women's team is as follows:

Men	Date	Match
	Dec 9 Dec 11 Dec 13 Dec 14 Dec 16 - 18 Dec 19	India vs. Singapore India vs. Bangladesh India vs. China India vs. South Korea Classification Matches Final
Women	Pool A	Pool B
	Dec 9 Dec 11 Dec 13 Dec 15 - 17 Dec 18	India vs. Kazhakastan India vs. China India vs. Sri Lanka Classification Matches Final

he pre-Asian Games hockey tournament was held at the Queen Siriket 60th Birthday Stadium in Bangkok from November 1 to November 5. This was the first time the poligras turf was being tested in a tournament.

In its opening match, India thrashed hosts Thailand 9-1. The goal scorers were Sameer Dad, Anil Aldrin, Gagan Ajit Singh (2), Rajesh Chauhan (2), Sabu Varkey, Dilip Tirkey and Mohammed Riaz. The hosts reduced the deficit through N. Nantasukon.

India then beat Bangladesh 4-1, scoring through Sabu Varkey (6th minute), Anil Aldrin (23rd), Gagan Ajit Singh (42nd) and Mohammed Riaz (61st). Musa Miah scored the consolation goal for Bangladesh. 

In its third match, India beat Uzbekistan 8-0, in the first-ever meeting between the two countries. The goal-scorers for India were Rajesh Chauhan (10, 29, 63), Sabu Varkey (7, 19), Samir Dad (14, 33) and Navsher Singh (17). At half-time, India lead 7-0.

In the finals, India beat Bangladesh 2-0 to emerge winners in the tournament. Both the goals were scored in the first half, with Mohammed Riaz sounding the boards in the 23rd minute and Kamal Horo adding to the tally in the 25th minute. In the contest for third place Uzbekistan beat Thailand 2-1 after drawing 1-1 at half time. The India-Bangladesh hockey final was shown live on Doordarshan. 

ndia Development XI and Sri Lanka played a 3-test series in Chennai and Hyderabad from November 10 to 13. To put these matches in perspective, the last time Sri Lanka played India in a test match was 31 years ago.

The first test, played on November 10, was inaugurated by Mr. Gautama Dasa, Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka. India XI won the match 4-0, with Saurabh Bishnoi (10th), Harbhajan Singh (21st), Gurusevak Singh (49th) and Amar Ayamma (63rd) being the goal scorers. The second match in Chennai was won by an identical 4-0 margin.

In the third match, played at Hyderabad on November 13, India staved off a late rally by Sri Lanka and squeaked home 3-2. India scored once in the first half (Saurabh Bishnoi, 17th minute) and twice more in the second session (Gurusevak Singh - 36th minute, Radhakrishnan - 43rd minute) to pile up a 3-0 lead. Sri Lanka struck back with goals by Vandalan (55th minute) and Mohammed Fayal Hameed (61st minute). India denied Sri Lanka the equaliser, and hung on for a victory.

The Indian coach C. R. Kumar said, "This may be our developmental team for forthcoming 2001 Junior World Cup in Canada. We have in the side mostly players under-20 years along with few seniors and the team is being groomed to keep our flag flying at the Junior World Cup.''

INDIAN XI: B. C. Poonacha, Anbuj Srivatsava (goalkeepers); Saurabh Bishnoi, Dinesh Naik, Anuraj Raghuvanshi (backs); Bikramjit Singh, Bimal Lakra, Anwar Khan, Romeo Albuquerque, Guru Sevak Singh, Baljit Singh Chandi, Amar Ayyamma, Bipin Fernandez, Radhakrishnan, Harbajan Singh and Gurjant Singh (Forwards).

hough not that much. South Korea, with just 4 artificial turf pitches, are as good as any side in the world today. In the 1998 Champions Trophy, despite being a last-minute entry, and with no practice at all, South Korea finished 4th (ahead of Spain and Germany).

South Korea has won the Asian Games twice - India for all its glorious past, has won only one Asian Games title, way back in 1966. In the 1986 Asiad, South Korea beat Pakistan 2-1 in the final. In the 1994 Asiad at Hiroshima, South Korea again won the hockey title, beating Pakistan in the semi-final 6-3 (tie-breaker), and winning 3-2 over India in the finals.

South Korea also won the 1993 Asia Cup, beating Pakistan 4-0 in the semi-finals and India 1-0 in the final. 

ndia and Pakistan will play a 9 match hockey Test series in February 1999, with India hosting the first phase of 4 matches before travelling across the border to play the remaining 5. The numbers will reverse every year with India hosting 5 and Pakistan 4 in 2000.

Every match of the series will be decided, even if it fails to produce a result in full and extra time. The number of matches have been fixed at 9 to ensure that the series produced a clear verdict.

Each visiting team would be allowed a contingent of 22 members, comprising 18 players and 4 officials. The FIH would appoint neutral umpires for the series.

At meetings held in New Delhi on November 21 and 22, the President and Secretary of the PHF, Akhtar Rasool and Mudassar Asghar, finalised the details of the series with their Indian counterparts, K. P. S. Gill and Jyothikumaran.

The 1999 series will be held from Feb 2 to 25, beginning with the Indian leg from Feb 2 to 11. Delhi, Bhopal, Hyderabad and Chennai will be the venues for the Indian leg, while Lahore will host the fifth and the ninth Tests, with Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi being the other venues.

The Indo-Pak match schedule is as follows:

Indian Leg	Test	Date	Venue
	1st Test 2nd Test 3rd Test 4th Test	February 3 February 5 February 8 February 10	New Delhi Bhopal Hyderabad Chennai
Pakistan Leg	Test	Date	Venue
	5th Test 6th Test 7th Test 8th Test 9th Test	February 16 February 18 February 20 February 22 February 24	Lahore Karachi Peshawar Rawalpindi Lahore

Following the Indo-Pak series, the two teams will clash again in the six-nation Dubai tournament starting from March 4 to 12. The other teams in this event will be South Korea, Germany, Australia and Malaysia. This is billed to be the biggest ever tournament for Dubai.

Next on the Indian team's itinerary would be the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, slated for early April in Kuala Lumpur   

he latest concept in hi-tech sports is Tapeless Video Analysis System. More than 158 professional and university teams use Lowell, MA-based Avid Sports' SportsPro for game analysis, opponent scouting and player development.

In ice hockey, this major breakthrough in coaching is being used by six National Hockey League clubs (including Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver of Canada, and Dallas, Tampa Bay and Washington of USA), one International Hockey League team (Orlando Solar Bears), and one university hockey team (Michigan State). The hockey products made by Avid Sports include:

• SportsPro Digital Video Analysis System
• SportsView Coaching Station
• Avid Sports Network Solution
• Trigger Box Dubbing Station (controls upto 12 video decks)

The main advantage of SportsPro is that it delivers instant random access to any play - making slow, burdensome tape-based systems a thing of the past. Placing the information on a network server, with inter-connected coaching and editing stations, centralizes video and data so everyone in the organization can instantly access it. The SportsView Coaching Station connects with the data in the network server to aid the coach in analysis, strategy and planning. 

SportsPro Hockey works on an Apple PowerMac, 64 MB RAM, 1 GB Hard Disk, Avid JPEG compression board, Targa 2000 video board, AudioMedia III audio board, Roland speakers and a Mitsubishi 17" monitor. The software costs betweeen $75,000 - $100,000.   

here are 2 teams comprising people of Asian origin in the First Divison of the English Premier League - Indian Gymkhana and Barford Tigers. India Field Hockey was visted by Amarjit Mann of the Indian Gymkhana. In his words,

"Indian Gymkhana Hockey Club in Osterley, England, is the oldest Asian hockey club in England. It has produced past internationals like Kulbir Bhaura, Olympic gold medallist for England, and Harbhajan Singh Flora (Scotty) who played for Scotland. Indian internationals Jude Felix and Dhanraj Pillai have played for the club in the past.

A lot of credit for the sucess of the club goes to Jaspal Mann, Kinde Hanspal, Sital Karu, Amritpal Vilkhu and Sunny Soor. It is their hard work and dedication to the club that keeps bringing young Asian children to the game of hockey."

he most decorated program in university hockey in USA is that of the Old Dominion Monarchs. They have won the national championsips (NCAA Division I) 7 times, the last in 1992.

The 1998 Division I championships were held in Philadelphia. The teams that reached the Final Four after a long hockey season were top-seeded Old Dominion University (21-2), second-seeded Connecticut Huskies (19-3), the Princeton Tigers (16-2) and the Virginia Cavaliers (18-4). Surprisingly eliminated in the quarter-finals were 3-time defending champion, the Tar Heels of North Carolina.

In the semi-finals, Old Dominion beat Virginia 3-0 and the Princeton Tigers beat Connecticut 4-1. In the finals, played on November 22, Marina DiGiacomo scored two goals as Old Dominion defeated Princeton 3-2 to win their 8th national championships.

The ODU Monarchs were coached by Beth Anders. The losing finalists, Princeton, were coached by Beth Bozman.

November is also the championship time for the Division II (25 colleges) and Division III (133 colleges) hockey programs. In the NCAA Division II championship held on November 8, Bloomsburg (21-1) defeated Lock Haven (20-3) in overtime 4-3 to win the title. In the NCAA Division III championship held on November 15, Middlebury (17-1) defeated William Smith (17-2) in overtime 3-2 to win the title.

wo foreign teams, Afghan Club - Bahawalpur (Pakistan) and Sri Lanka XI, were among the 22 teams that took part in the 35th senior Nehru-ONGC hockey tournament held in Delhi from November 14 to 24.

It was a strong field this year, with the other teams being: Air India, BSF, Army XI, Punjab Police, Punjab and Sind Bank, Karnataka XI, Tamil Nadu, Northern Railways, Bihar, Bengal, Tata XI, Hyderabad, SAIL, CLW Chitaranjan, CISF, Sports Hostel, FCI, Air India National Academy, and two qualifying teams.

The 12 teams that made it to the Super League phase were:

Pool A	Pool B
Afghan Club (Bahawalpur) Steel Authority of India Ltd. Army XI	Punjab Police IHF Blues Sri Lanka XI
Pool C	Pool D
Air India Punjab and Sindh Bank Lucknow Sports Hostel	Border Security Force Northern Railway Rock Rovers

In the semi-finals, PSB prevailed over IHF Blues 6-5 in the tie-breaker, while BSF crushed SAIL 3-1.

Border Security Force defeated Punjab and Sind Bank 2-1 in an all-Jalandhar final at the National Stadium to claim their seventh title in the Nehru Hockey Tournament.

Shinu Herenz converted BSF's first penalty corner in the 20th minute to put them ahead and Habil Topno added another in the 55th minute, before Parminder Singh pulled one back for the bankmen two minutes later. IHF Blues defeated SAIL XI 5-2 to finish third.

BSF picked up Rs. 50,000 as winners and PSB received Rs. 30,000. Steelbird International presented Rs. 20,000 for the third-place team IHF Blues. The four best players of the tournament, Marinus Lakra (BSF), Peter Tirkey (BSF), Anwar Khan (IHF Blues) and Mangra Munda (SAIL), got Rs. 5,000 each. The prize money was courtesy Life Insurance Corporation of India.

Pepsi Foods instituted special prizes for the team having the highest penalty-corner conversion and the player who topped the list of penalty-corner converters. SAIL received Rs. 8,000 and Saurabh Bishnoi of IHF Blues Rs. 2,000.

he Nehru Hockey Society conducted the 27th Junior Nehru hockey tournament in Delhi, which took place from October 20 to November 2.

Army Boys Sports Company (Danapur) whipped Chotu Ram Zamindar (CRZ) School (Sonepat) 4-0 to win the tournament. The winners led 1-0 at half time. Earlier Lyallpur Khalsa School (Jalandhar) defeated Birsamunda Vidyapitha (Rourkela) 11-10 in the sudden-death tie-breaker to finish third.

The victory fetched the Danapur side a cash award of Rs. 1 lakh, while CRZ School received Rs. 60,000. The Lyallpur school got Rs. 40,000 for finishing third. 5 players, forwards Satish Kumar (CRZ), Arvind Kumar (Danapur), Satinderpal Singh (Lyallpur), centre-half Sanjib Beck (Birsamunda) and goalkeeper Bharat Kumar (Danapur) were declared the best players of the tournament and will receive scholarships of Rs. 2000 each.

n October, the 49th National Hockey Championships (Women's) took place in Chennai. Railways beat Haryana 5-1 to win the national championships. The Player of the Tournament, Sita Gossein of the Railways, was awarded a CYCLE from the Tube Investment Group.

One month later, in November, in the privileged game of cricket, India won the Coca Cola Trophy in Sharjah, defeating Zimbwabe. India picked up $40,000 as the winner's cheque. Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin won a MERCEDES CAR for being the leading run scorer in the tournament.

So which game do you want your kid to play?