n 18-member Indian hockey team left for Pakistan on February 26 for the first Indo-Pak hockey series in nearly 11 years. The team included eight of the Junior World Cup players who led India to a silver medal finish - the ninth Junior World Cupper, Rajeev Mishra, had to be dropped from the Pakistan leg of the series because of injury. The probables had undergone a strenuous 20-day camp at NIS, Patiala from February 5. There were some penalty corner innovations, wherein the team practised upto six indirect variations. Several sessions were held in which video clippings of Pakistan's matches were shown to the players.

The Indian team is as follows:

• Goalkeepers: A. B. Subbaiah and Jagdish Ponnappa
• Full-Backs: Dilip Tirkey, Lazarus Barla and Dinesh Nayak
• Half-Backs: Sukhbir Singh Gill, Thirumal Valavan, Ramandeep Singh, Anwar Khan and Baljeet Singh Saini
• Forwards: Dhanraj Pillay (Captain), Mukesh Kumar, Sabu Varkey, Harbhajan Singh, Rajesh Chauhan, Mohammed Sameer Dad, T. Brojen Singh and Altaf-ur-Rehman
• Coaches: Chief Coach - V. Bhaskaran, Assistant Coaches - C. R. Kumar and R. Parameswaran
• Officials: Manager - M. M. Somayya, Team Doctor - Dr. S. A. Cruz, Physio - G Gunasekaran

The Pakistan team is as follows:

• Goalkeepers: Ahmed Alam and Muhammad Qasim
• Full-Backs: Danish Kaleem, Naveed Alam and Ali Reza
• Half-Backs: Muhammad Usman, Imran Yousaf, Muhammad Wasim, Sohail Abbas and Irfan Mahmood
• Forwards: Rahim Khan, Tahir Zaman (Captain), Kamran Ashraf, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Shahbaz (Vice Captain), Mohammed Sarwar, Haider Hussain and Asif Ahmed
• Coaches: Chief Coach - Ayaz Mahmood, Assistant Coaches - Nasir Ali and Shahid Ali
• Officials: Manager - Islahuddin Siddiqui, Physiotherapist - Derk Verder
  
  

ockey is the national game of both India and Pakistan. With both teams issuing statements that they can beat each other in the Indo-Pak hockey revival, everyone is eagerly awaiting the outcome of the series. Coach Bhaskaran said that his team is going with an attitude to enjoy the games more than to win them. Somayya pointed out that the attack had been scoring field goals during the camp which was a positive sign.

However, it should be noted that the Indian team has some key players like Mohammed Riaz, Anil Aldrin and rising star Rajeev Mishra missing due to injuries. Also, the return of Shabaaz Ahmed to the Pakistan side after a 17 month break has boosted the Pakistan team's morale. 32-year old Shahbaaz, a veteran of 228 matches, and with 85 goals scored, was the star in Pakistan's 1994 World Cup and Champions Trophy victories. Pakistan had not won a single tournament during the time Shabaaz was out of the team. Shahbaz's brother-in-law and Pakistan captain Tahir Zaman announced his ambition of taking a straight 4-0 lead during the Pakistan leg of the eight-test series against old foes India.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has appointed Peter Elders and Peter von Reth from Holland as neutral umpires to supervise the first leg of 4-test series to be played in Pakistan. The following centres in Pakistan would be hosting the tests:

• February 28: Peshawar
• March 1: Rawalpindi
• March 3: Rawalpindi (Benefit Match)
• March 5: Lahore
• March 7: Karachi
  
  

abib Bank Ltd. is the proud title sponsor of the first leg of the Indo-Pak hockey series. The two countries will play the first four tests of the series for Habib Bank Trophy which will be awarded to the winner of the first leg on March 7 at Karachi. The President of HBL, Shaukat Tareen and the President of PHF, former Olympian Akhtar Rasool, signed a sponsorship agreement whereby the bank will finance all national and international activities of the PHF for the next Three Years.

The president of HBL recalled his association with hockey which was a school going kid, when his father was the Pakistan team doctor which won the 1960 Rome gold medal, thereby breaking the 28 years old domination of India in Olympic hockey. That same team had earlier won the inaugural Asian Games hockey gold medal held in 1958 in Tokyo.

Television rights for the first four matches in Pakistan have been sold to PTV, Doordarshan and Star TV. In a move with far-reaching implications, STAR Sports will be showing all eight matches of the Indo-Pak series. The Karachi test, the only match being played under floodlights, will be shown live on all 3 networks.

When last checked, the IHF was running from pillar to post to locate a sponsor for the Indian leg of the series. In the initial phase of K. P. S. Gill's tenure as president of the IHF, several corporations like Reebok, Smith Kline Beecham and the Kuber Group were signed as sponsors. However, lack of a professional approach and failure to honour contracts made all these sponsors move away. There may be no Habib Banks in India but surely there are bigger groups which can enter the fray!

The IHF had asked IMG India to locate a suitable sponsor, in time for the Indian leg of the revival series. IMG has reportedly managed to locate multinational giant Pepsi as the title sponsor for Rs. 15 million ($394,000). If that news is confirmed, it would herald the arrival of the mega bucks sponsor Pepsi into the sport of hockey. So far Pepsi was unable to look beyond cricket, having started with Kapil Dev for endorsements, later graduating to Sachin Tendulkar ($250,000 contract) and Sanath Jayasuriya ($300,000 contract). Pepsi was the 'unofficial' soft drink sponsor of the 1996 World Cup Cricket, made famous by its path-breaking advertisement campaign. Pepsi also sponsors the domestic Ranji Trophy league, all one-day internationals, many benefit matches, a few masala matches, and any tournament with the magic word "cricket".

he win-loss record for India-Pakistan matches, as of February 28, 1998, is as follows:

Number of Matches : 82
Victories for Pakistan : 38
Victories for India : 27
Drawn Matches : 17

India and Pakistan have played 5 series so far. The first series was played in 1978. The last series was played in August 1988. In the present Indian squad, only coach Bhaskaran (1978), captain Dhanraj Pillai (1990) and manager Sommayya (1988, 1990) have visited Pakistan earlier.

oth Pakistan team manager Islahuddin Siddiqui and Indian team coach Vasudevan Bhaskaran have fond memories of the inaugural Indo-Pak series played two decades ago in 1978. That was the first ocassion when an Indian hockey team visited Pakistan after partition. Islahuddin was the captain of the Pakistan squad in 1978, which had hockey greats Hassan Sardar and Manzoor Junior in their ranks. India lost at Lahore, but won 1-0 at Karachi when Zafar Iqbal scored in the last minute. The Indians lost the 4-match series 1-3, but Bhaskaran was declared `Man of the Series' for scoring three goals and blocking 12 penalty corners.

"I cannot forget that series. It was a great feeling to beat the home team in Lahore in front of President Zia-ul-Haq. Even in the return leg, there were 60,000 spectators in the jam-packed stadium in Bangalore,'' Bhaskaran said.

The last India-Pak series was played in 1988. That six-match series ended in a draw. Each side won two matches, and the other two were drawn.

ormer hockey Olympian Tanvir Dar, affectionately known as 'Goga', passed away in Karachi. He was suffering from diabetes, renal problems and heart malfunctioning. He was in a coma for a couple of weeks before he passed away. Tanvir was a senior officer in the Pakistan Customs in Karachi at the time of his death.

Described as a penalty corner king, Tanvir Dar was a member of the victorious Pakistan teams of the 1968 Mexico Olympics, the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games and the 1971 World Cup in Barcelona. Tanvir Dar top-scored in the Mexico Games. He was capped over 100 times in his illustrious career.

He was the younger brother of Munir Dar, a member of the first Pakistan Olympic gold medal winning squad at Rome in 1960. He was also the uncle of Tauqir Dar, a member of the last Pakistan Olympic gold medal winning squad at Los Angeles in 1984. In addition, Tanvir was also a cousin of Olympian Khawaja Zakauddin, currently National Selector.

Senior Vice President of FIH and Chairman of the World Hockey Rules Board, Brig Manzoor Hussain Atif, expressed a sense of deep sorrow and grief, and said in a statement, "Tanvir belonged to an illustrious hockey playing family, which enjoys the unique distinction of having a family member in all three Pakistan Olympic gold medal winning teams at Rome in 1960, at Mexico in 1968 and Los Angeles in 1984. Tanvir was a great full back and a penalty corner striker and it is a pity that his life was cut short in his prime."

his edition's Visitor of the Month features Benoît Heimermann. He works for L'Equipe, the largest selling sports daily in Europe, and had this to say to India Field Hockey:

I am doing a series of stories about the great sports champions of the 20th century. Dhyan Chand, member of the Indian hockey team between 1926 and 1936, is on this list. I have some information about him but not enough. Please could you send me a complete biography by mail, and maybe some articles from the Indian press. Is Mr. Dhyan Chand still alive ? Sincerly yours, Benoît Heimermann

The Wizard of Hockey - Major Dhyan Chand, passed away in 1979. Hockey triple gold medalist and well-wisher Balbir Singh Sr. has kindly offered to help Mr. Benoît Heimermann in his quest for information on the legendary Dhyan Chand.

n 18-member Indian women's team participated in a Triangular Tournament in South Africa. Hosts South Africa and Argentina were the other two participating countries. The girls had undergone a tough session in Patiala where they even practiced with penalty corner machines. Coach Col. Balbir Singh said that a series of practice matches against the Army teams during their camp in Patiala had helped the players improve their game. The Indian team was as follows:

Tingoleima, Helen Mary (Goal Keepers), Sandeep Kaur, Shashi Bala, Mary Stella Tirkey, Renu Bala, Mukta Xalco, Helen Soy, Sita Gussain, Nidhi Khullar, Pritam Thakran, Manjinder Kaur, Kamala Dalal, Sunita Dalal, Suraj Lata, Jyoti Kulu and Neha Si

According to information released by Clare Digby, Vice President of the South African Hockey Association, India drew with South Africa 0-0, and later drew with Argenina 2-2. In the second leg of the matches, India lost to South Africa 0-5, lost to Argentina 0-4 and lost to South Africa 1-2.

s part of the agenda to give the national team as much exposure as possible before it moves to Utrecht for the World championship in May, the Indian Hockey Federation is keen on accepting the invitation from Australia to take part in the two four-nation tournaments between April 9 and 19.

This will bring the Indian team face to face with tougher opponents - New Zealand and Argentina, apart from the host, the Aussies. With India playing Pakistan, following a rewarding series against Germany, and then travelling to Australia for the four-nation tournaments, India would have played almost all the top countries, barring Spain and the Netherlands, before the World Cup.

Good planning, but bad manners.

Malaysian national coach Volter Knapp was upset over India's forthcoming tour of Down Under. India had confirmed their participation for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, but later backtracked when Pakistan proposed the Indo-Pak series. Knapp added that there were no rules that require a team to invite another. But, he added, it was only morally right that an invited team should reciprocate.

"I think things are not fair now and we have to look closely at who we invite in the future. We spend a lot of money inviting these teams and the least we can expect is for them to reciprocate," Volter said. "It makes me angry when such things happen and they take us for granted."

even years ago, Stephan Baldanoff was an Australian student who visited India as a member of the Monash University (Melbourne) hockey team. He was struck by the discerning hockey fans and warm hospitality the team received during that trip..

"India's rich culture and the Indians' passion for hockey was something I could not erase from my memory. I had to come back," the young, bespectacled manager said.

Even after he stopped playing in the Australian National Hockey League, Baldanoff kept himself involved with the game at the University level. "I decided last year that we should send a Combined Universities team to India, and I wrote to theAssociation of Indian Universities," recalls Baldanoff.

The Indians reacted positively, and after a year's correspondence the Australians are finally here. The team was picked from eight universities from across Australia, comprising several players who play in the National League. Ably coached by Glenn Freeman, the mission of the team is: "Play and learn". And that's the story of how the Australian Universities team came to India for the Rs. 2.2 Lakh, 6th Nehru Champion Colleges hockey tournament.

This was the first ever entry of a foreign university team in the Champion Colleges tournament, which was played at the Shivaji Stadium, Delhi. This was how the scorecard of the visiting Australian team read:

• defeated Jamia Millia 3-2
• defeated M.S. University 14-1
• defeated Jamia Millia Islamia 5-3 (via tie-breaker) (semi-finals)
• lost to Rourkela Municipal College 0-1 (finals)

The winning team took home a purse of Rs. 1,00,000, half of which was to be shared by the players, and the rest to go to Rourkela Municipal College. Similarly, the Australians took home a cheque of Rs. 60,000.