ack in 1976, defending world champions India crashed to a shocking 7th place in the Montreal Olympics - the first time India failed to win any medal in Olympic hockey.

In an interview with Prabhjyot Singh of Sportsar, skipper Ajitpal Singh had said, "India committed the blunder of withdrawing from the pre-Olympic hockey tournament. To make up for this blunder, the IHF decided to send the team on a tour of France and Canada. The Indian team hardly got any practice match of importance in either place. The only preparatory match India ended up playing before the Olympics was against New Zealand."

A quarter century later, coach Cedric's decision to withdraw from the 6-Nation pre-World Cup tournament betrays insecurity about his team, and could backfire badly. Yet again, India will have the benefit of just one pre-World Cup practice match - against New Zealand.

The mindset of the IHF and the coaches has to change - competition has become an inseparable part of modern coaching.

The Champions Challenge that India participated in December was not a pre-World Cup warm up tournament. The teams featured were only nos. 7 to nos. 12 in the world - none of which ever won a World Cup.

In contrast, the 6-nation tournament would have given us top quality match competition against 3 Sydney Olympic semi-finalists - Netherlands, Australia and Pakistan. These 3 countries have won between them 8 of the 9 World Cup tournaments. Two of these three countries - Netherlands and Pakistan - were in the other pool? What better warm up could India have got?

While India scored 11 goals in 6 matches in the Champions Challenge, Pakistan scored 25 goals, Netherlands 24 goals and Australia 18 goals in their 6 matches in their much tougher pre-World Cup tournament. The gap in offensive power between India and the top 6 is a wide chasm.

Consider the attitude of Cedric's counterparts. Australian coach Barry Dancer said, "There is no question in my mind that the 6-nation tournament is fruitful for us. The timing is right and the climatic conditions just perfect to try out some of the ideas we have. This is the ideal tournament for Australia to pick its World Cup squad."

Pakistani coach Hanif Khan said, "We are still working on finalising our team for the World Cup. The 6-nation is the first step for us to make a comeback into the mainstream. We will know we are on the right track if we get good results against Holland and Australia."

Malaysia's coach Paul Lissek said, "we need more top level matches before the World Cup, as we still need to improve in certain departments. Participating in the 6-nation tournament has done more good than harm."

Japanese team manager Toichi Nagai (Japan was India's replacement in the tournament) said, "Here we got matches against some of the top teams in the world. For me, results do not matter as much as trying out our ideas and tactics, and also learning more about the other teams. This tournament showed which of the weaknesses identified in the Champions Challenge last month had been corrected."

In all of 2001, the only world-class tournament that India participated in was the Azlan Shah tournament. India lost to Germany, lost to Pakistan, lost to Australia and lost to South Korea to finish 5th in that tournament.

Since then, we have no way of knowing how India would measure up playing the elite nations in the World Cup. While India opted for the solitary splendour of a 3-week coaching camp, defending champions Netherlands came from half a world away for the tournament. 

One can only hope that this so-called strategic decision in not sending India to the 6-nation tournament will not end up in being India's exit strategy from the World Cup.

t an IHF General Body meeting held at Guwahati, Assam, on January 29, Kanwar Pal Singh Gill was unanimously re-elected the president of the IHF for the third consecutive term.

There was no opposition to Gill's candidature, and once he was elected, the rest of the executive retaining their posts was a mere formality.

Kandaswamy Jyothikumaran of Tamil Nadu stays as secretary general. J. N. Tyagi of Uttar Pradesh continues as treasurer. Chandigarh IPS officer Chandrasekhar, former Member of Parliament Keshab Mahanta of Assam, and N. K. Batra of Jammu and Kashmir are the three senior vice-presidents.

The meeting was held in Guwahati at the suggestion of Gill, who pointed out that Assam was as much a part of India as any other state. Gill is an IPS officer from the Assam cadre, where he served a major part of his life before moving to Punjab to tackle the militancy problem there.

The meeting also saw the formal entry of four more state units into the IHF - Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh, bringing the total number of affiliated units of the IHF to 35.

Setting out his agenda, Gill said that his first target is improving India's standing at the international level. His second objective is expansion of the game in all parts of the country. Thirdly, Gill was hopeful of roping in some big corporate sponsors after the end of the current financial year. Gill has an ambitious target of raising Rs. 10 crore to implement his plans for Indian hockey.

n 18-member Indian women's hockey team will participate in the inaugural Champions Challenge Trophy to be held at Johannesburg, South Africa, from February 9 to 17.

The team: Tingongleima Chanu, Amandeep Kaur, Suman Bala, Suraj Lata Devi, Sita Gussain, Sumrai Tete, Nidhi Mukesh Kumar, Surinder Kaur, Pritam Siwach, Mamta Kharab, Jyoti Sunita Kullu, Helen Mary, Pushpa Pradhan, Masira Surin, Agnecia Lugun, Pakpi Devi, Shahina Kispotta, Sanggai Ibemhal Chanu.

Coach: P Madhukaran; Manager: Rupa Saini

The winner of the tournament will qualify for the Women's Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held at Macau, China, from August 23 to September 1.

In their lead-up to the Champions Challenge tournament, the Indian team will play warm-up matches in Kenya from February 1 to 6.

he primarily cricket-focussed magazine in India, Sportstar, has started the new year with a bang - all four covers in the month of January featured cricketers. What is more, 3 of the 4 star posters for the month of January featured cricketers.

Date	Jan 5 - Jan 11	Jan 12 - Jan 18	Jan 19 - Jan 25	Jan 26 - Feb 1
Cover	Saurav Ganguly	Hayden/Langer	Steve Waugh	Muralidharan
Poster	Anil Kumble	Tillakaratne	Bhupathi/Paes	Jayawardane

The hypocrisy of Sportstar is shown in its selection of the Indian junior hockey team for the Young Achievers Award.

In all of 2001, there was just one article in Sportstar on the Indian junior hockey team. Not once in 2001 did they get to be on the cover - not even when India won the Junior World Cup in hockey. Now, out of the blue, Sportstar gives them the Young Achievers Award.

Here's what Sportstar wrote on why it selected the Indian junior hockey team for the award:

Few sports are as integral to India's sporting culture as hockey. Before a religion called cricket won millions of new converts, hockey was India's national sport.

But a nation that won a record 8 Olympic gold medals in hockey has suffered for too long in the middle and lower levels of the sport.

It is in this context that the spectacular triumph of the Indian junior hockey team at Hobart, Tasmania, offers just a glimpse of a glorious new dawn.

All that is fine, but India's non-cricket sports deserve better than an occasional kind word and a pat on the back, by India's so-called leading sports magazine. 

When was the last time an Indian sportswoman was featured on the cover? How about an Indian junior sports prospect? Are there any non-cricketing role models that India's sportspersons can identify with?

This year features both World Cup Football (India ranked 122) and World Cup Hockey (India's national game). Going by its past sorry record, Sportstar will feature the former on its cover, but not the latter event where we were the World Cup champions.

This year also features the biggest multi-games events after the Olympics - the Commonwealth Games in July and the Asian Games in September. Going by its past sorry record, Sportstar will feature neither events on its cover.

Sportstar will for ever remain a poor country bumpkin of international sports journalism, due to its single minded obsession with one game - cricket.

astrol is associated as a sponsor with both cricket and hockey in the country, but the manner in which it has gone about sponsoring cricket is very different from its sponsorship of hockey.

Every year, Castrol has a grand function to announce the Castrol Cricketer of the Year. The winner gets a trophy, and a cheque for Rs. 5 lakhs. The four other finalists get Rs. 50,000 each.

In addition, Castrol also doles out the 'Castrol Lifetime Achievement Award' - again for the sport of cricket only. This year's awardee was Polly Umrigar, who got a cheque for Rs. 5 lakhs.

The voting panel comprises a galaxy of former and current Indian cricketers, and the voting is carried out by secret ballot.

Castrol is said to have signed a Rs. 3 crore deal with the Indian hockey team. There needs to be some transparency on the financial aspects of the deal. For instance, does the Indian hockey player get any money for sporting the sponsor's logo, or is it all pocketed by the IHF and their officials.

Look at the professional example set by the BCCI for cricket in India. The sponsor's contract with the Indian cricket board specifies the money to be paid to the players and coach for sporting the sponsor's logo for every match, as shown by the table below:

Beneficiary	Test Match	One-Day International
Players	Rs. 1.55 lakhs	Rs. 1.31 lakhs
Coach	Rs. 1.42 lakhs	Rs. 1.20 lakhs

Can we expect the IHF to pay sponsor logo fees to its players out of the Rs. 3 crore deal with Castrol India? Can Castrol insist that the IHF channel back some of its sponsorship money to the players. Else, can Castrol come up with the Hockey Player of the Year Award (senior and junior level) to recognise and reward excellence in the sport. Or are such awards reserved only for the game of cricket?

orld Cup Football is so big, that it is taking 2 countries (Japan and Korea) and 20 cities to host the 2002 event. World Cup Hockey is so small, that it takes just one city to host the event.

World Cup Football is a one month sporting extravaganza. World Cup Hockey quietly gets over in a fortnight.

The official World Cup Football website is available in 6 official languages - Japanse, Korean, English, Spanish, French and German. The official World Cup Hockey website is available in one language - English.

The World Cups for both hockey and football have been held in the same year since 1978. However, World Cup Hockey is vastly under-marketed and underplayed in the media, when compared to the hype, hoopla and monies associated with World Cup Football.

There is a distinct lack of promotion for the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, with no advertisements, posters or banners on the roads or in the malls, telling the average fan about the biggest sporting event to be held in Malaysia this year.

There is no media strategy promoting the event on television, radio or print. We still don't know if Doordarshan is carrying India's matches, or if BBC is carrying England's matches, or if ESPN-Star is carrying any matches, live or even tape-delayed.

In contrast, the Football World Cup has already got its television contracts in place. For instance, all 64 games of the tournament will be shown live in USA, through ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. The games will be telecast at 2:30 am, 5 am or 7:30 am Eastern time. There is a separate contract to show the games in Spanish on the Telemundo network.

While tickets still remain to be sold for World Cup hockey, not only is World Cup soccer sold out, a Japanese company Nishin Fire and Marine Insurance is even offering "hooligan insurance" to cope with the huge and many times unruly crowds.

ll matches featuring Pakistan in this month's World Cup Hockey Tournament will be telecast live by Pakistan Television (PTV). In addition, the semifinals (March 7) and final (March 9) of the tournament will also be shown live on PTV.

Following is the schedule of Pakistan matches:

Date	Pakistan Vs.	Time (PST)
Feb 24	South Africa	1.05 pm
Feb 25	Belgium	1:05 pm
Feb 27	New Zealand	3:35 pm
Feb 28	Argentina	3:35 pm
Mar 2	Netherlands	5:05 pm
Mar 3	Spain	3:05 pm
Mar 5	Germany	5:35 am

Unfortunately, Doordarshan is yet to come up with its schedule of matches featuring India. It is too busy televising cricket.

Strange are the ways of the mandarins of Mandi House. In football, India is 122 in the world. In hockey, India is among the top 10 in the world. Yet, Doordarshan will telecast World Cup Football matches, in spite of India not qualifying, but have not yet announced whether they will show World Cup Hockey matches live, in which India could be a potential semi-final prospect.

he All-India Football Federation (AIFF) has announced a tie-up with London-based Strata Sports Marketing to market the sport of football in India.

The deal - which becomes official from April 2002 - will see Strata take on the responsibility of organising and marketing major annual tournaments like the National Football League (NFL), Santosh Trophy and the Federation Cup. The AIFF had tried, and failed, to locate sponsors for this year's NFL.

Most important, the deal will guarantee the AIFF a sum of Rs. 22 crores over a 5 year period. Any profits overflow will also be shared with AIFF, after Strata gets to keep 30% of the profits.

Strata's Managing Director Alamgir Kashmiri expressed confidence that the tie-up will turn the game of football around in India, both financially and in terms of playing standards. Kashmiri referred to the present state of Indian football as still semi-professional. "We have to make it fully professional. With the available infrastructure and the passion for the game in India, we can do it."

Strata is under negotiations with United Breweries and the Tata Group, with the former expected to be ahead in the race to sponsor the NFL. Strata is awaiting the full calendar of events this year from the AIFF, in order to have the sponsorship tied up for a longer period.

Note that the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has also signed a 3-year exclusive marketing contract - with a Kolkatta-based agency Leisure Sports Management (LSM).

LSM did bring on Castrol as the title sponsor of the Indian hockey team for the 2001 World Cup qualifiers in Edinburgh. Pepsi, Heinz and Britannia were also in the race to sponsor the Indian hockey team.

While that is a good beginning, the IHF needs to do more with the sponsors - a National Hockey League should be in place to bring back crowds to the stadia, international players should get match fees out of the sponsorship money, domestic tournaments like the junior nationals and sub-junior nationals should be held regularly with their sponsors in place, and importantly, hockey needs to be part of mainstream televised sports in India.

he Indian Hockey Federation needs to show some vision and encourage our national team players to play in the foreign leagues. This will make the players fitter, expose them to international competition and various strategies, and also, make the players richer. A win-win situation for all.

Take a look at how Australia sends its best talent for export abroad.

Category	Plays In	Player
Women	Netherlands	Alyson Annan
		Rachel Imison
Men	Netherlands	Brent Livermore
		Troy Elder
		Michael Brennan
		Ben Taylor
	Belgium	Murray Richards
	Italy	Matthew Smith

It will indeed be a great day for Indian hockey when our top male and female hockey players get to play professional hockey in Europe. It will be a step forward for Indian sport. 

Photograph Courtesy : World Hockey, March-May 1970 (Agentur Schirner)

he Photograph of the Month for February is a classic shot of Hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand on the rampage, in the 1936 Berlin Olympics hockey semi-final against France. 

The article accompanying the photograph is by Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara, the first Olympic captain of Pakistan. The article is entitled 'Dhyan Chand - The Indian Wizard' and excerpts are presented below:

Cricket may affectionately recall its Grace, Hobbs and Bradman, and soccer its Matthews and Puskas, but hockey has one and only one Dhyan Chand, incomparable and unique. There can be no argument about the claims of this maestro as the all-time great of hockey.

In his peak playing days before World War II, Dhyan was referred to by one superlative after another - Juggler, Magician, Wizard. Whatever he was called, there was no doubt that this lightly-built hockey genius was a giant among players.

I had the privilege to play under him for India, and also against him as we belonged to the same regiment in the army. He was a thorough gentleman and a true sportsman who never lost his temper.

A sports club in Vienna built a statue showing Dhyan Chand with four hands and four hockey sticks, as if he were some sort of deity. To those Viennese, at least, he certainly was because they said no ordinary man with two hands and one stick could play so well!

he English Hockey Association has signed a contract with the FIH to host the 2003 Champions Trophy, putting paid to Pakistan's hopes of hosting the event as compensation for losing the 2001 edition.

England will host a joint men's and women's event, which should provide the best hockey seen on English soil since the 1986 men's World Cup.

The English bid, however, is dependent on a new pitch being laid at Milton Keynes. The estimated cost of the new pitch is £350,000. A bid is being prepared in the hope of securing Lottery funding, and the new pitch will hopefully be laid by the spring of 2003, in time to welcome the world's top six nations in July.

wo new Bangalore-based hockey websites have debuted recently - Dhanraj Ballal Hockey Academy and Go4Hockey.com.

The website of the Dhanraj Ballal Hockey Academy, a non-profit sports venture, has sections on:

• Academy - Training Programme, Weekly Schedule, Key Personnel
• Player Profiles - Dhanraj Pillai, Ashish Ballal
• Player's Forum - A sports trust for promoting India's national game
• News Bulletin - Report on the selection trials held in Bangalore

.The Go4Hockey website has sections on:

• Hockey News - a very comprehensive section on current Indian hockey news
• Interviews - with Padma Shri Dhanraj Pillai & Arjuna Puraskar winner Ashish Ballal
• Tournaments - Nellamakkda Cup, U&I Trophy, Azlan Shah Cup
• 2002 World Cup - Pool Composition, Complete Schedule
  
  

Leo Anthony Devadoss is this edition's Visitor of the Month. Leo is the Honourary Administrator of the Dhanraj Ballal Hockey Academy in Bangalore. This was what he wrote to BharatiyaHockey.org:

Through the Dhanraj Ballal Hockey Academy, many former Olympians are prepared to give back their experience to the game, and hope to contribute in a positive way from Bangalore.

Since November 2001, we have been training 45 boys in the age group of 15 to 20 years on the turf grounds in Bangalore. Former Olympian Ashish Ballal is on the grounds every day coaching the boys. The progress and enthusiasm of the trainees is very encouraging. Funding is a significant problem in our initiative to promote the game. 

This is a wonderful website and I am glad to visit it every day. There are a lot of articles for training and coaching which I find very useful for young players. Wish you all the best. Keep it up.

efending Olympic and world champion Netherlands has played 111 matches against Pakistan. Of these matches, Pakistan has won 48, lost 40 and drawn 23.

Pakistan and Netherlands have played 4 times on Malaysian soil, with Pakistan again having the better win-loss record

Year	Tournament	Result
1975	World Cup	Pakistan draw with Holland 3-3
1993	Champions Trophy	Pakistan win 3-1 (league) Holland win 6-2 (3rd-4th playoff)
2002	6-Nation Tournament	Pakistan win 3-0

Malaysia has never been a good venue for Netherlands. In the 1975 World Cup at Kuala Lumpur, Netherlands came in as defending champions, but crashed to a shocking 9th place in the World Cup.

Similarly, the two times New Zealand has beaten Netherlands in recent memory are both in Malaysia. New Zealand won 2-1 in the 1975 World Cup, and 3-1 in the 6-nation pre-World Cup hockey tournament in 2002.