n a shocking development, the FIH Council has bended the rules to induct Pakistan as the 7th team for the next Champions Trophy at Amstelveen. The Champions Trophy has thus been reduced to a private showpiece of the FIH, where influence can get you in when required. The Champions Trophy has become devalued.

Pakistan was out of the Champions Trophy for the first time after finishing last in the previous edition at Brisbane. The appeal to the FIH was based on the following :

• Pakistan performed poorly because of the new foot/ball rule
• Pakistan initiated the idea of the Champions Trophy in 1977
• Pakistan participated without a break for 22 years

It goes without saying that since Pakistan had also initiated the concept of the World Cup in 1971, they can participate in the World Cup for ages to come.

Unluckily for India, the IOC does not tolerate such nonsense, so India cannot claim that the 8 Gold Medals it won in this century would automatically qualify it for all the Olympics to be held in the next century.

rom India to Pakistan to Malaysia, the saga of the Asia Cup venue goes on.

India were the original hosts for the 5th Asia Cup (men). The Asia Cup is essentially a low-cost tournament, with the teams paying for their own airfare, board and lodging. Due to bungling by the IHF duo of Gill and Jyothikumaran, the FIH named Pakistan as the hosts instead.

Now due to the 'democracy by another name' situation in Pakistan (it is still not officially termed as martial law), and with the Pakistan Hockey Federation President Akhtar Rasool under detention, the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) has named Malaysia as hosts of the Asia Cup. 7 out of 10 countries had rejected Lahore as the venue, as per the survey carried out by the AHF.

The Asia Cup will still be held from November 18 to 28, as originally scheduled, but at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil. This will be the first time Malaysia will host the Asia Cup, which began 22 years ago.

But Pakistan officials, feeling that the AHF cannot make such a move without getting it approved by the FIH, are pinning their hopes on the world body to reverse the decision.

Besides heavyweights Korea, Pakistan, India and Malaysia, the other teams participating are Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka.

The winner of the Asia Cup would qualify automatically for the 2002 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. The other top four finishers would be selected for the World Cup qualifiers. At the last Asia Cup in 1993 at Hiroshima, South Korea beat Pakistan 6-0 in the final.

Meanwhile, IHF President K. P. S. Gill has swallowed his pride and done what is good for the country - recall Dhanraj Pillai and Mukesh Kumar for the Asia Cup. The preparatory coaching camp is being held at SAI, Bangalore, from October 19 onwards.

here are 20 artificial turf pitches throughout India. Nearly half of the nation's artificial turf pitches are in northern India. Delhi and Bangalore are the only cities with 2 artificial turf pitches. None of the hockey stadiums in India have floodlights!

The following is the list of stadia in India with artificial turf pitches:

Region	City	Stadium	Region	City	Stadium
North	Amritsar Delhi Delhi Jalandhar Patiala Chandigarh Jammu Lucknow Ludhiana	GNDU Stadium National Stadium Shivaji Stadium Surjit Singh Stadium SAI (North)	West          South          East	Bhopal Gandhinagar Mumbai Pune Bangalore Bangalore Chennai Hyderabad Imphal Ranchi Rourkela	Aish Bagh Stadium SAI (West) Mahindra Stadium Pimpri-Chinchwad Akkithimmanhalli SAI (South) Radhakrishnan Police Stadium -

Compared to the 20 artificial turf pitches in India, there are more than 600 full-size artificial turf pitches in England (including 70 double-pitch facilities). 300 of these pitches were built in this decade itself.

In its last two major tournaments, England beat India to claim the bronze medal in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, and beat Pakistan to finish 5th in the 1999 Champions Trophy. The outcome of the latter match was disastrous for Pakistan, who have been (morally) eliminated from next year's Champions Trophy.

The Empire has indeed struck back, thanks in no small measure to its surfeit of artificial turf fields.

n 1998 we had the Rabobank World Cup hockey competition. This was followed by the Habib Bank Champions Trophy.  After our stirring Asian Games triumph, we had the Pepsi Indo-Pak hockey tests for the Indian leg of the series.

The above concept of tournament naming rights can apply to stadiums too. In short, Indian hockey needs more Mahindra stadiums, the only artificial turf hockey stadium in India to be funded by, and named after a corporate sponsor.

That would be the only way we can fund large-scale deployment of artifical turf fields in India. The present cost of an artificial turf field is $70 - $80 per sq metre, for the 6000 sq metre area of a hockey field. The overall cost, including the replacement of, or repairs to the old sub-base, can work out anywhere between Rs. 2 - Rs. 3 crores.

Professional sports leagues in USA have taken the concept of stadium naming rights to heart, as is borne out by the following numbers:

League	Stadiums with Naming Rights
National Basketball Association	18 out of 29 (62%)
National Hockey League	14 out of 30 (47%)
National Football League	12 out of 31 (39%)
Major League Baseball	11 out of 30 (37%)

Those 55 stadiums with naming rights have pumped in money worth $2.2 billion into American sports. Some sample contracts are as follows:

Sport	City	Stadium Name	Contract
Football	Washington DC	FedEx Field	$200 million over 27 years
Basketball	Dallas	American Airlines Arena	$195 million over 30 years
Hockey, etc.	Atlanta	Philips Arena	$182 million over 20 years
Baseball	Phoenix	Bank One Ballpark	$66 million over 30 years

It is to be hoped that more artificial stadia, with floodlights, will spring up across India as a result of innovative financing based on corporate sponsorship. Here's to Tata Stadium in Jamshedpur. How about a floodlit SAIL Stadium in Rourkela. And to ITC Stadium in Calcutta - the one major metropolis in India yet to have an artificial turf pitch.

 

eports on the death of Inside Hockey magazine have been greatly exaggerated.

The Delhi-based "Inside Hockey" magazine, which had mysteriously suspended its operations after the 1998 World Cup, is now being revived by Mumbai-based Marine Sports. Pargat Singh will continue to be the editor, and he will be assisted by a galaxy of hockey stars like Jude Felix, Merwyn Fernandes, Joaquim Carvalho, Mir Ranjan Negi and Prabhjot Singh, all of whom have played the game at the highest international level.

Hockey writers like Darryl Crasto (Times of India) and Errol D'Cruz (Indian Express) will write about the players, the game and its development. Noted journalist Suhas Nair (formerly of the Pioneer) will assist as the media co-ordinator.

Marine Sports will handle the publishing and distribution. They can be reached at The Marine Sports Magazine Division, Post Box No. 7025, Mumbai 400 028.

he FIH World XI (men) played world and Olympic champion Netherlands in Alexandria on October 27, as part of the FIH's 75th anniversary celebrations.

Netherlands comprehensively beat the World XI 4-1. A stunner of a penalty corner by Remco van Wijk put the Netherlands ahead early in the first-half. The World XI struck back through a penalty corner flick by Peter Milkovich.

In a space of two minutes, Karel Klaver turned the complexion of the match, striking two goals for Netherlands, and in the final minutes, Teun de Nooijer put the finishing touches to a great victory.

The World XI men's team was coached by Shiaz Virjee of Canada. 16 players from 12 countries made up the World XI. The lone Indian representative in the World XI was Baljit Singh Dhillon, one of only 4 from Asia.

Earlier, Stephen Veen of the Netherlands (men) and Alyson Annan of Australia (women) were elected the FIH Players of the Year for 1998. Dhanraj Pillai and Pritam Rani Thakran were among the nominees. The Players of the Year both hold Olympic, World Cup and Champions Trophy gold medals.

The 10-member voting panel comprised coaches, players, umpires and representatives of the media. Judging criteria included skill, technique and championships won, leadership qualities, impact on team performance, disciplinary record and involvement in hockey both on and off the field.

The members of the World XI (men) were as follows:

Continent	Country	Player
Africa	Egypt	Abdullah Magdi, Ashraf Shafiq
	South Africa	Greg Nicol
America	Argentina	Rodolfo Perez
	Canada	Mike Mahood, Peter Milkovich
Asia	India	Baljit Singh Dhillon
	Malaysia	Mirnawan Nawawi
	Pakistan	Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmed
Europe	Belgium	Marc Couldron
	Germany	Florian Kunz
	Spain	Juan Escarre, Pol Amat
Oceania	Australia	Damon Diletti
	New Zealand	Brett Leaver

he FIH World XI (women) played world and Olympic champion Australia in Alexandria on October 27, as part of the FIH's 75th anniversary celebrations.

In a see-saw match, in which the lead changed twice only to be tied again, the World XI finally prevailed 4-3 over Australia.

Alyson Annan and Michelle Andrews opened the scoring for Australia. Britta Becker of Germany and Pietie Coetzee of South Africa brought the two teams level at two apiece. Not long after Pietie increased the lead, and it was then the turn of the Aussies to be under pressure till Katrina Powell hit in the equaliser.

When a minute remained and when it looked as though a drawn verdict was on the cards, Argentina's Karina Masotta scored the match winner.

The World XI women's team was coached by Sue Slocombe of England. 16 players from 9 countries made up the World XI. Sita Gossein of India was the lone representative from Asia. Karen Brown, the world's most capped player, was captain of the World XI team.

The members of the World XI were as follows:

Continent	Country	Player
Africa	South Africa	Caryn Bentley, Pietie Coetzer
	Zimbabwe	Shelly Tate, Ilsa Coetzer
America	Argentina	Karina Masotta
	USA	Tracey Fuchs
Asia	India	Sita Gossein
Europe	England	Karen Brown
	Germany	Britta Becker, Natasha Keller, Heike Latch
	Holland	Carol Thate, Clarinda Sinnige, Dilliane Boogard
Oceania	New Zealand	Mandy Smith, Robyn Matthews

Kim Sang Ryul, Korea's National Hockey Coach

ome words of wisdom from Kim Sang Ryul, coach of the Korean team which finished with the silver medal in the 1999 Champions Trophy. Kim (44) was a student of Balkishan Singh at the National Institute of Patiala, where Ryul studied the basics of hockey for about a year. Kim holds the Grade I coaching certificate from the FIH.

"Like many around the world, I am really worried about India's future in hockey. I know your hockey so well. Why do you always change your coaches? No doubt, coaches make mistakes, but for every mistake you'll change the coach. That, in my reasoning, is the main fault with Indian hockey today.

Cedric, your Olympic coach, he was very, very intelligent, and alway tried new strategies. In fact, I learnt many things from him. At that time all coaches used to worry about Cedric's strategy. When I talk with foreign coaches, they all agree Cedric is the best Indian hockey coach. But after Atlanta, Cedric was removed, and every foreign coach is happy that the danger coach is out.

Also, I am a professional coach and am being well paid by the Korean Hockey Association. I cannot disclose what I get for obvious reasons. But you must understand that every coach is a professional and must be paid for his services.

I have not often seen an Indian coach watching a tournament where his team is not involved. For instance, I was at Padua (Italy) watching the European Hockey Championship where Germany, Holland, Spain, England, and several others played in a hectic competition. But I did not see a single Indian coach there. If that is so how will you know the strategies of other countries when you face them in a match.

I like Indian and Pakistani players because they are skillful and fast. What further coaching do they need? All you need to develop are stamina and strategy, just two things. That's all. Simple. If I take an Indian or Pakistani team, I will be very happy because they are individually much better than the Koreans. Give your players to me."

Article and photograph courtesy The Hindu

he 38th Bombay Gold Cup was conducted at the Mahindra Stadium from October 6 to 16. Mismanagement over the years by the Bombay Hockey Assocation has resulted in this being only for the third time in this decade that the Gold Cup was being held.

Leading the fray in the 1999 edition were 8-times champion BSF, and 4-times champions Indian Airlines and Punjab Police. The IHF Juniors XI team was included at the behest of IHF President K. P. S. Gill.

The four semi-finalists were as follows:

Pool A	Date	Punjab Police	Date	Punjab and Sindh Bank
	Oct 11	beat Bhopal XI 8-1	Oct 10	beat Delhi XI 4-1
	Oct 12	beat Rail Coach Factory 3-1	Oct 13	beat Indian Airlines 4-1
Pool B	Date	Bharat Petroleum	Date	Air India
	Oct 8	beat Customs 4-2	Oct 8	beat Companeros 6-0
	Oct 10	walkover CRPF	Oct 11	beat IHF XI 2-0
	Oct 12	beat Central Railway 1-0	Oct 13	beat Sikh Regiment 1-0

In the semi-finals, the teams from Punjab beat the teams from Mumbai. Punjab and Sindh Bank trounced BPCL 4-1, while Punjab Police beat Air India 3-2 on a Daljit Singh Dhillon hat-trick. In the final, Punjab Police beat Punjab and Sindh bank to clinch their 5th Bombay Gold Cup title.

Baljit Singh Chandi (Punjab and Sindh Bank) was declared the Player of the Tournament. Punjab Police received Rs. 1 lakh as the winnner's check, while Punjab and Sindh Bank got Rs. 50,000. Punjab Police was managed by ex-Olympian Pargat Singh.

hat will it cost the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) to host the 2002 World Cup in hockey?

MHF deputy president Datuk Seri P. Alagendra has estimated the total cost of organising the World Cup at $1.1 million. One of the components of the above cost is the $132,000 hosting fee to be paid to the FIH (for what?).

The FIH has introduced what it calls "global sponsorships" for which it plans to tap at least 4-5 major sponsors. The world body is expecting to raise 2 to 3 million dollars from such global sponsors.

MHF would get a 10% cut of the sponsorship raised by the FIH. The MHF will have to raise the remainder of the money through local sponsorship and ticket sales. Note that all TV rights rest with the FIH.

To increase revenue from ticket sales, the MHF is looking into the possibility of laying an artificial turf at the Bukit Jalil soccer stadium (rather than its hockey stadium) so as to allow a larger crowd to watch the World Cup matches. "We are hoping to attract crowds between 80,000 and 100,000 for the World Cup," said Alagendra.

his month's edition is based on former coach Cedric D'Souza's enjoyable analysis titled "Euro Power," in his regular column for Rediff.

Cedric observes that if we take the 3 important world hockey competitions - Olympics, World Cup and Champions Trophy, the recent editions of these tournaments have all been won by a European nation. The table below bears him out.

Tournament	Year	Winner
Olympics	1988 1992 1996	England Germany Netherlands
World Cup	1990 1994 1998	Netherlands Pakistan Netherlands
Champions Trophy	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999	Germany Netherlands Germany Netherlands Australia

The only two exceptions to European domination in the above table is Pakistan winning the 1994 World Championship in Sydney and Australia winning the 1999 Champions Trophy in Brisbane.

India does not figure in the above table at all. We have won only one major title in each of the last 3 decades. India won the World Cup in 1975, the Olympic Gold in 1980 and the Asian Games Gold in 1998.

n enquiry about the 1936 Indian Olympic team translated into this edition's Visitor of the Month. Dean Palmer, who is from London, England, writes:

I was looking at your internet page for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It mentioned that 92 year old Baburao Narasappa Nimal is the only living member of the 1936 Indian hockey team.

I was suprised by this as I work in London, England with a man named Neville Edmund Galibardi, whose father Joseph Galibardi played in the 1936 Olympic team. I know that Joseph is alive and well, and lives with his wife in East London.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions regarding this matter. I hope that you can post this information on your internet site.

We have posted the changes in the Golden Moments section on our site. For the record : Babu Nimal passed away on February 21, 1998.

Photo by P. Samson Victor of Deccan Herald

n the recently concluded 8-nation junior tournament in Poland, 19-year old Arjun Halappa slammed in 7 goals. South Korea, Poland and Egypt were the teams at the receiving end. The gifted playmaker of the Bangalore-based Centre of  Excellence (and earlier with the Sports Authority of India), is making waves on the national scene.

His wristwork is mesmerising; his playmaking, innovative. But what sets him apart is his effective use of the drag push. This skill is all self-taught. ''There was nobody who really taught me the push," Arjun says. He learnt it from observing other players, especially former international M. K. Prakash.

If his midfield performance is impressive, his display inside the rival 25-yard is dangerous. The junior national championships in Bangalore in July is a stark pointer to his playmaking skills. As captain of the Karnataka team and chief schemer, he bore the responsibility of setting up opportunities for his forwards. He did that with elan, helping the state squad reach the quarter-finals of the championship.

Arjun's debut for Karnataka was with the senior team in the National Games at Manipur in February. His next sojourn was the senior nationals at Hyderabad in March. Then followed the junior nationals which straightaway earned him the captain's badge.

Arjun's career has taken off impressively. His talent and hardwork have won him rewards. However, many a battle has still to be won and many a corner still to be turned. Going by his track record and the confidence he portrays, it should not prove too tough a task.

Article by Vijay Michael Raj of Deccan Herald

he new president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, A. C. Muthaiah is a godsend to this already privileged sport. He brings with him the clout and vision associated with being the vice chairman of the $1 billion Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation.

His first task was to put his signature on a 5-year telecast deal with Prasar Bharati for all cricket in India. As part of contract, Doordarshan will cover 21 days of DOMESTIC cricket live. With Doordarshan's reach of 540 million households, that will give a huge boost to the domestic cricket scene.

ESPN-Star Sports has signed exclusive telecast rights with 6 test playing countries from 2000 to 2004. In those 4 years, ESPN Star will give live telecast of any test or one-day international that is played in Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe. This deal was arranged through CSI.

As part of the contract, ESPN will telecast 729 DAYS of cricket, which includes 525 days of test cricket and 204 one-day internationals. Imagine 2 years of sports programming between 2000 - 2004 devoted to cricket. ESPN Star will launch a major marketing blitz entitled Cricket Mania 2000 to kick off this 4-year deal.

In USA, the 1999-2000 NBA season started on November 2. A total of 259 GAMES will be shown live on television. NBA's fledgling sister league, the WNBA, had its own mini-television schedule of 38 live telecasts during its 1999 season.

League	Network	Games	League	Network	Games
NBA	TNT	68	WNBA	Lifetime	11
	NBC	58		NBC	11
	TBS	42		ESPN	10
	HTS	55		HTS	6
	WB	21
	WGN	15

The day the IHF comes up with an annual domestic/international league/tournament schedule, with a multi-network television contract, with a breakup of which games are telecast live/tape delayed, just like BCCI, just like ESPN/Star, just like NBA/WNBA, we will know that Indian hockey has arrived.

Until then the federation and the game will continue to wallow in mediocrity.

Dilip Tirkey Nov 25, 1977 (22 years old)

ockey may be played by 110 countries over the world, it may have been an Olympic sport since the first decade of this century, but as far as the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games are concerned, hockey just does not exist.

Hockey, the national game of both India and Pakistan, was not included in the 1999 SAF Games held at Kathmandu. Hockey has been ignored even for the next edition of the games at 2001 at Peshawar.

For any discipline to get the nod from the SAF executive committee, a minimum of 4 votes are needed. Hockey managed only 3 - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The other 4 countries - Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives turned down hockey.

As for Indian Olympic Association Suresh Kalmadi, he was lobbying for kabaddi to be included in the SAF Games, to ensure its continued presence in the Asian Games. Kalmadi even offered to host the 1999 SAF Games in India if kabaddi was in threat of being dropped in Kathmandu. Note that it was Kalmadi who sold the concept of cricket to the Commonwealth Games.

That hockey needed to be lobbied for, and failed to get included, only show the sorry status of India's national sport.