Man of the Final - Baljeet Singh Dhillon
Photograph Courtesy : The Hindu

India reclaimed its place among hockey's elite by winning the inaugural Champions Challenge, held in Kuala Lumpur from December 7 - 15. India thus earned an automatic entry to the 2002 Champions Trophy to be held in Cologne, Germany.

The bottom six teams in the Sydney Olympics - India, Argentina, Spain, Canada, Malaysia and Poland - were to take part in the Champions Challenge. However, Spain, and Canada and Poland declined to play, and the FIH selected Japan, South Africa and Belgium to play in their place.

It was a close tournament, where on the last day of the league matches, any of 4 teams would have been able to make it to the final - India, Argentina, Malaysia or South Africa. In a do-or-die situation, India won its final league match against Argentina to storm into the final. The hero of this match was Jude Menezes, who give a brilliant goalkeeping performance under the bar.

The final, which was watched by 5000 fans, was convincingly won by India 2-1, powered by a strong performance from the Indian captain and the man of the final Baljeet Singh Dhillon.

India's match results in the Champions Challenge were as follows:

Date	Result	Indian Scorers
Dec 7	India 1 - Belgium 0	Dhanraj Pillai
Dec 8	India 2 - South Africa 2	Jugraj Singh Deepak Thakur
Dec 10	Malaysia 2 - India 1	Prabhjyot Singh
Dec 12	India 3 - Japan 0	Prabhjyot Singh Deepak Thakur (2)
Dec 13	India 2 - Argentina 1	Jugraj Singh Gagan Ajeet Singh
Dec 15 FINAL	India 2 - South Africa 1	Deepak Thakur Baljeet Singh Dhillon

India last qualified for the Champions Trophy in 1995, and their last appearance in the tournament was in 1996 in Chennai, as hosts.

An interesting note about the two finalists - while India fielded 10 members of their Junior World Cup winning side, the South Africans, showing their lack of depth, did not include even a single player from their Junior World Cup team.

In the play-off for the third-fourth places, Argentina beat hosts Malaysia 4-2, while Japan defeated Belgium 5-3 to finish fifth. Belgium went through the entire tournament without winning even a single match.

India's win-loss record against South Africa now stands at 12 wins, 6 draws and 5 losses in the 23 matches played between the two nations thus far.

The victorious Indian team comprised the following players:

Goalkeepers : Jude Menezes, Devesh Chauhan

Full-Backs : Kanwalpreet Singh, Lajarus Barla, Jugraj Singh

Half-Backs : Sukhbir Singh Gill, Vikram Pillai, Bipin Fernandes, Thirumala Valavan, Ignatius Tirkey

Forwards : Dhanraj Pillai, Baljeet Singh Dhillon (captain), Sabu Varkey, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjyot Singh, Gagan Ajeet Singh, Daljeet Singh Dhillon, Arjun Halappa

ndian hockey coach Cedric D'Souza has stuck his neck out to predict that his team will win a medal in next year's hockey World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

A euphoric Cedric mentioned the 3 targets he had set for the Indian hockey team:

• Qualifying for the World Cup
• Winning the Champions Challenge
• Winning a medal at the World Cup

"I have achieved two of the targets, and now the third one is the biggest prize of all - to win a medal in the World Cup," said Cedric.

As part of his preparation for next year's World Cup, Cedric said that he would keep his team in isolation camps for as long as possible to train and fine-tune their moves.

"The Champions Challenge was our final tournament. I do not plan to participate in any more tournaments or invitationals. The team will be playing a series of test matches though, as we do need quality matches. There are still a lot of shortcomings in the team," said Cedric.

As a result, India has dropped out of a 6-nation tournament in Kuala Lumpur starting on January 18, just a month before the World Cup. This policy could backfire as India will be missing out on matches against world-class teams like Australia, Holland and Pakistan, apart from New Zealand and hosts Malaysia. The first 3 teams mentioned in the list above were semi-finalists in the Sydney Olympics, and are bound to be among the medals in the World Cup. 

Malaysia's coach Paul Lissek feels the opposite of Cedric.

"We need more top level matches before the World Cup begins in February as we still need to improve in certain departments. Participating in the 6-nation tournament in January will do more good than harm."

The Indian team celebrating at K. P. S. Gill’s residence in Delhi
Photo courtesy Kaushik Ramaswamy of The Hindustan Times

ndia's victory in the Champions Challenge hockey tournament in Kuala Lumpur was greeted with jubilation in the sports circles back home.

A delighted Sports Minister Uma Bharati said "This is the beginning of a distinguished and exciting chapter in Indian sports history. The chapter opened last year with the stirring deeds of chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and badminton ace Pullela Gopichand."

The minister said that Indian hockey was on the right track to regain its lost glory, and promised a warm reception to the victorious team on their return home.

IHF president K. P. S. Gill expressed satisfaction at the result, saying, "After the Junior World Cup victory, it is gratifying to note that the hard work put in by everyone is bearing fruit. Indian hockey is looking up once again, and we all must work hard to bring greater glory in the country's national game."

The Indian team manager Chandrashekhar said, "The terrorist attack on the Indian parliament motivated the team and made them more focussed. They kept listening to the cassettes of patriotic songs they had brought with them to lift their morale."

It was hard for Chandrashekhar to control his emotion as he said, "The crowd is all excited and is eager to hug and lift our players."

The Chennai Hockey Fans Association honoured 8 members of the Indian team : 4 senior players - Jude Menezes, Sabu Varkey, Radhakrishnan and Thirumala Valavan, as well as 4 junior players - Bipin Fernandes, Arjun Halappa, Vikram Pillai and Ignatius Tirkey.

IHF Secretary, K. Jyothikumaran said "This season we have had a fantastic run of successes, starting with the victory in the Prime Minister's Gold Cup tournament in Dhaka, followed by the Asia Cup victory by the u-18 side. After that came the junior squad's wonderful show in the World Cup in Australia. Now this victory in Kuala Lumpur. This winning streak gives us a lot of hope that we are on the right track."

However, captain Baljeet Singh Dhillon has sounded a note of cautious optimism. "It was a very satisfying win and the lessons of Edinburgh World Cup Qualifier were well learnt. We had gone to Edinburgh to win the title, and barely managed to qualify. It was frustrating, and we were determined to stem the rot.

We still have 3 main areas of concern - ball possession in the last 10 minutes, poor field goal conversion and low percentage of penalty corner conversion. Edinburgh has taught us not to be overconfident and we will be ready in time for the World Cup."

lympian Dharam Singh, one of the finest full backs of Indian hockey, died on the evening of December 5 in the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh.

Dharam Singh, a member of the gold medal winning team in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, was 84. He fell in the bathroom at his residence a few days earlier and hurt his head, which led to brain haemorrhage.

As a deep defender, Dharam won appreciation from his peers and seniors for his tough game. Dharam never indulged in unfair play and always enjoyed the respect of the umpires, as can be seen by the fact he never received marching orders from the umpires in his entire career.

Dharam Singh coached the gold-medal winning Indian hockey team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Besides, he trained the team for the 1978 Asiad in Bangkok where Indian won the silver medal. Dharam was on the selection panel of the Indian Hockey Federation in 1970 and 1982.

Dharam Singh, fondly called 'Doctor Saheb' by his friends, was a 'Dronacharya' to many top hockey players in the country, having trained a number of players, including Prithipal Singh, Dharam Singh Jr. and Surjeet Singh.

Two of his former trainees, Rajinder Singh and Narinder Singh Sodhi, both international players, brought laurels to the country when they coached the Indian team to victory in the recent Junior World Cup.

Till his death, Dharam used to be a trainer and guide to several youngsters at the Sector 18 Hockey Stadium in Chandigarh.

Olympian Balbir Singh Sr., a teammate of Dharam Singh in the 1952 Olympics, had the following to say on hearing the news of Dharam Singh's demise:

With Dharam Singh's death, I have lost a dear friend with whom I had 60 years of association. Dharam Singh played with me for Khalsa College, Amritsar, Punjab University, Punjab Police, Punjab and India at Helsinki.

At the college practice sessions, our coach Sardar Harbail Singh used to field us in the opposing teams. The beating and tackling bouts between us were always fierce and tough. We clashed repeatedly as if a medal was at stake. And being good friends, soon after the training, both of us started nursing each other's bruises and injuries.

As a most dependable deep defender, Dharam was one of the all time great hockey players of India. Top forwards of his period often changed positions when pitted against him in a competition. Despite being robust and tough he never indulged in rough tactics. He was always an invaluable asset to our teams.

Stan Salazaar in his hockey library in Perth, Australia

erth, Australia, is home to the largest one-man collection of hockey books in the world. Stan Salazaar, shown above in his hockey library, has over the years collected an impressive total of 234 hockey books, 263 hockey lapel pins, 35 hockey stamps, more than 250 tournament program guides and all issues of the World Hockey magazine.

Stan plays veterans hockey once a week in summer, and 3 times a week in winter. He represents his state of Western Australia in the over 60s division in the Australian Veterans Championships. Note that veteran's championships in Australia is a well-organised annual event, with every state and territory being represented in the over 40s, over 45s, over 50s, over 55s and over 60s grades.

Stan was born in Akola, while his wife Margaret was born in Bhusaval. He studied at La Martiniere College in Lucknow. Stan has fond memories of being coached by K. D. Singh 'Babu' while playing hockey in Uttar Pradesh.

Stan keeps in touch with Balbir Singh Sr., one of his hockey heroes while growing up in India.  Hockey Olympians M. K. Kaushik and Merwyn Fernandes have stayed with Stan in Perth.

Besides playing veteran's hockey and communicating with hockey folks from all over the world, Stan also coaches an A-Grade ladies team, and an u-17 boys team. All this, according to Stan the Man, keeps him busy, fit, happy and off the streets!

ndian hockey got a big boost with national carrier Indian Airlines announcing a 50% fare discount for players participating in recognised national and international tournaments.

The concession was announced by Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain at a function in New Delhi to honour Indian Airlines' outstanding sportspersons. The minister also stated that the budget of the Indian Airlines Sports Control Board will be doubled from the present Rs 75 lakhs.

In another significant move, Indian Airlines has decided to fund the laying of a synthetic turf at Vasant Vihar, in south Delhi, for its players to practice.

Under a Government of India scheme, if an institution, organisation or state government comes up with 50 per cent of the cost of buying and laying the turf, the central government will give a matching grant.

This would be the fourth synthetic turf for the game in the capital. New Delhi already has three synthetic turfs, two at the National Stadium and one at Shivaji Stadium.

Indian Airlines is a powerhouse in Indian hockey, with 5 of its players in the Indian team for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and 7 of its players in the gold medal winning Indian team for the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.

fter India's victory in the Junior World Cup, Punjab and Sindh Bank (PSB) has decided to start a sub-junior academy for u-15 players in Jalandhar.

A brain-child of PSB's chairman and managing director Sardar Narendra Singh Gujral, the bank is presently scouting for a school in Jalandhar where 20 boys between the ages of 12 to 15 can study and live together. All expenses related to boarding, lodging and education of the selected players will be borne by PSB.

Former PSB forward Ripudaman Singh will be the coach of the youngsters. Selection of players for the sub-junior academy will be conducted in Jalandhar, Faridkot and Shahbad Markanda by former internationals like Ajitpal Singh, Rajinder Singh, Gundeep Kumar and Ripudaman Singh.

"The sport needs development at the grassroots level,” said PSB chairman Gujral. "With the age-group between 12 to 18 now being covered by the bank, I think the game will get better players and there will be a constant feeder route to the national hockey team."

PSB already runs an academy in Jalandhar, which was launched in 1994 to groom and train players in the 15 to 18 age group. The academy has, since its inception, produced 25 players who have represented India in various international tournaments.

he 12th All-India Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Tournament was held at Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi, from December XX to December 9.

8 top teams participated in the event, including defending champions Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Punjab and Sindh Bank (PSB), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), IHF Juniors, Indian Airlines and Air India. 

The foreign flavour was provided by a team from Bangladesh - Dhaka Zila Parishad. The Bangla national team trains on their sole synthetic turf under German coach York Schumacher. However, there aren’t any sponsors and there is hardly any following of the game amongst kids in Bangladesh. It was but natural that the Bangla team lost all its outings in the 8-team event.

The final was contested by Indian Airlines and last year's runners up Punjab and Sindh Bank (PSB). Their roads to the final were as follows:

Date	PSB	Indian Airlines
Dec 4	beat Dhaka Zila Parishad 7-2	drew with IHF Juniors 1-1
Dec 5	beat Indian Airlines  4-1	lost to PSB 1-4
Dec 6	beat IHF Juniors 4-1
Dec 7		beat Dhaka Zila Parishad 8-1
Dec 8 (semis)	beat CISF 2-1	beat Air India 3-0

In the final played on December 9, PSB outplayed Indian Airlines 2-1 to win the tournament. The goals for PSB were scored by their captain Parminder Singh (off a penalty corner) and Sandeep Singh Ghuman. Bimal Lakra pulled one back for Indian Airlines, who despite the presence of Olympians Mohammed Riaz, Mukesh Kumar and Sameer Dad, could not draw level.

he u-18 national hockey championship (men) was held at the Ambedkar Stadium in Karimnagar, from December XX to December 10. Punjab showed its resurgence in junior hockey with two state-based teams making it to the final - Punjab and Sindh Bank and Punjab. Their roads to the final were as follows:

Date	PSB	Punjab
Dec 5		drew with Uttar Pradesh 0-0
Dec 8 (quarters)	beat Madhya Bharat 2-0	beat Haryana 4-1
Dec 9 (semis)	beat Orissa 2-0	beat Pondicherry 1-0

In the final, played on December 10, PSB got the better of Punjab 2-1 via a golden goal. The all-important goal was scored by Rajinder Kumar just four minutes into extra-time, after the regulation time had ended with the teams tied at one-all.

PSB coach Mr. Bhupinder Singh praised the efforts of the PSB Hockey Academy. He disclosed that the team that won the tournament was in fact a second string PSB team, with most of the first string junior players taking part in ongoing university tournaments.

odfrey D'Souza from Toronto, Canada, looks back on the 1960 Olympic hockey final, when India was dethroned by Pakistan from the world hockey pedestal. That marked the beginning of the end of India's supremancy in world hockey, with first Pakistan and then Europe and Australia taking over the top spot.

Here's Godfrey in his own words ....

Pakistan had one golden moment in the 11th minute which Naseer Bunda capitalized on, and scored the match winner.

Thereafter, India had many attempts at the goal. V. J. Peter's shot off a penalty corner rebound hit the upright. A defence splitting pass from captain Claudius from the centre line found Raghubir Singh Bhola in possession of the ball at the top of the circle, and with goalkeeper Abdul Rashid lying prone on the ground.

All that the left winger had to do was control the ball, bring it on the forehand side and flick into an empty net. For some strange reason, he used his backhand shot, which had failed him time and again. The ball trickled out of play.

When we spoke of the Rome Olympics 40 years ago at school, everyone talked about the odd bounce of the ball which fooled Jhamanlal Sharma and Mohinder Lal. No one talks of the umpteen chances that the forwards missed. Remember that the forward line had players of the calibre of Udham Singh, Joginder Singh and V. J. Peter.

Thus it turned out that despite dominating the match, India still lost. The team that won silver at the Rome Olympics was one of the finest teams to represent India, although not as balanced as the 1952 team that was led by Babu in Helsinki.

The one dignified person who stood head and shoulders above the rest was the Indian captain Leslie Claudius, until that time, the world's best half-back. I believe his sportsmanship and integrity were the hallmarks of the player that he was, and a future role model for captains who followed.

ndia's spin sensation Harbhajan Singh has expressed interest in playing county cricket in England. "If any county calls me and says they need a professional for a season, I'm ready. It's a good experience and a good exposure to play in England," the 'Turbanator' told BBC.

The 21-year-old bowler said he was influenced by his skipper Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, both of whom honed their skills while playing in England.

"Ganguly and Kumble said they enjoyed playing in England, and that it helps to improve your cricket, and you get used to playing in different kinds of conditions," Harbhajan said.

What is true for cricket is also true of hockey. Indian players need to play in the foreign hockey leagues of Netherlands, Germany or England, which attract the best talent from all over the world.

If Pakistan can have 3 of its players in the Dutch hockey leagues, what prevents Indian players from earning a living abroad from their sport? Their employers need to be more understanding, and the IHF needs to show more vision, to enable our national players to play in Europe and Australia for a living.

Note that the Argentinian team included 3 members who play in hockey league of Holland - Jorge Lombi, Maximiliano Caldas and Fernando Zylberberg. Even Canada, which has not qualified for the World Cup, has its international Scott Smith playing for the Old Loughtonians in the English League.

at Rowley, former Editor of "World Hockey", produces his personal and unofficial World Ranking List annually. The ranking is based mainly on major events, but takes into account other results where necessary. The rankings give weightage to form exhibited over a period of time, and a one-off performance is not given overdue weight.

Pat Rowley's top 10 men's and women's rankings are given below:

Nos.	Men	Women
1	Germany	Argentina
2	Netherlands	Netherlands
3	Australia	Australia
4	South Korea	China
5	Pakistan	New Zealand
6	England	Spain
7	India	Germany
8	Argentina	South Korea
9	Spain	England
10	Poland	South Africa

Note that Netherlands and Australia are the only two countries to have the top rankings in both men's and women's hockey (world nos. 2 and nos. 3).

The only Asian country to figure in the top 10 in both lists in South Korea (nos. 4 in men's hockey and nos. 8 in women's hockey).

China, New Zealand and South Africa are countries that figure in the top 10 in women's hockey, but not in men's hockey. Correspondingly, Pakistan, India and Poland figure in the top 10 in men's hockey, but not in women's hockey.

Photograph Courtesy : World Hockey (July 2000)

he Photograph of the Month kicks off for year 2002 with a classic shot of Hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand scoring a goal in the 1936 Olympic Hockey Final in Berlin. 

In front of 40,000 fans, including Hitler, India demolished Germany 8-1 to record the largest margin of victory in an Olympic hockey final.

he FIH has refused to give any compensation to the PHF for having the Champions Trophy taken away from Pakistan after the September 11 terrorist strikes, stating that it did not want to set a precedent that would create problems for the FIH in the future.

A very sporting gesture by the English Hockey Association (EHA) saved face for the FIH. The EHA gave the PHF £6,000, which was the travel expenses they saved on account of travelling to Rotterdam instead of Lahore.

The FIH also awarded the PHF the 'Pablo Nagre Trophy' for 2001 for its dedicated efforts for the cause of hockey at all levels.

he official website of the 2002 World Cup is at http://www.hockeyworldcup2002.com. It is an excellent, comprehensive site, with the following features:

Content : World Cup fixtures, pools, real-time results through a live tracker, online ticketing, hockey news

Branding : Links to the World Cup logo, mascot, posters and theme song

Features : Player profiles, hockey legends, photo gallery, past results and World Cup fact file

Contact Us : Email addresses, telephone numbers and fax number of the main organisers of the World Cup.

The site has been developed by CNL Asia Tech, a subsidiary of WIGE Asia in Malaysia.

Mary Hannigan is this edition's Visitor of the Month. Mary is a hockey reporter with the Irish Times newspaper in Dublin. This was what Mary wrote to BharatiyaHockey.org:

I am trying to find out how the Indian Hockey Confederation is reacting to the the FIH's verdict on the Lithuanian appeal - i.e., India has lost the home advantage in a playoff against USA for qualification to the World Cup, and must now try to qualify at the Champions Challenge in South Africa.

I would like to know if India intends appealing against this decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Could you help me contact the Indian Hockey Confederation?

he player to watch out in the upcoming World Cup is Jorge Lombi of Argentina. The goal scoring machine has top-scored in 3 of the last tournaments he has participated in, as shown below:

Date	Event	Venue	Goals by Lombi	Goals by India
Sep 2000	Olympics	Sydney	13	13
Jul 2001	World Cup Qualifier	Edinburgh	19 (4 hat-tricks)	17
Dec 2001	Champions Challenge	Kuala Lumpur	7 (1 hat-trick)	11

In the above 3 tournaments, the goal-scoring output of Jorge Lombi (39 goals) is equivalent to the offensive power of the entire Indian forward line (41 goals).

In particular, Jorge Lombi relishes playing against Malaysia. In the last 3 matches played between Argentina and Malaysia, all the 10 goals scored by Argentina have come off the stick of Jorge Lombi!