Statistics taken from an article by Thomas Heath in The Washington Post

ndia's National Football League has a Mumbai-based team with a pretentious name like Mahindra United (changed from Mahindra and Mahindra), no doubt an imitation of the world-famous Manchester United football team. More than just a superficial name change, what does it take to build a sports franchise like Manchester United (Man U).

• Consistent Winning Record - Man U have won 14 English Premier League championships (one of the toughest leagues in the world), 10 Football Association Cups (a single-elimination tournament) and 2 European Champions Cups (the sport’s most prestigious club competition). In 1999 United completed a historic treble of the Premier League title, the FA Cup and the European Champions Cup, a feat which has never been done before.
  
  
• Global Fan Base - Manchester United has 53 million fans worldwide, however only 20% of them are from Great Britain. The vast legion of Man U fans are foreigners, who have no connection with the city or the country. For example, Asia has around 16.6 million United fans, compared to 11.1 in Britain and Ireland.
  
  
• Big-Name Superstars - David Beckham heads Manchester United's star appeal. To add to the glamour, he is married to pop singer Posh Spice (Victoria Adams) and has a hit movie with his name (Bend it like Beckham). It also helps that Man U has big-name fans like film star Roger Moore, singer Rod Stewart and basketballer Hakeem Olajuwon.
  
  
• Pervasive Media Coverage - Manchester United games are broadcast in United Kingdom, Asia and Australia. A third of Man U's revenues (nearly $80 million) come from the television rights from British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB).
  
  
• Wealthy Team - Manchester United has an annual revenue close to $250 million, and its franchise value is $1 billion. In 2002, Manchester United, a publicly traded company, earned an after-tax profit of $37.5 million, and paid out $12 million in dividends. United sells out every home game in Old Trafford, Manchester, which provides another steady stream of revenue (average ticket price is $36). Tours abroad add to its coffers - Man U is charging $3 million as appearance money, plus expenses, for its forthcoming July/August 2003 4-city US tour.
  
  
• Global Sponsors - Manchester United signed a 13-year, $450 million deal with Nike in 2002. Man U also has sponsorship deals with British telecommunications firm Vodaphone, film company Fuji, Internet firm Lycos, beer giant Anheuser Busch and soda company Pepsi.

Mahindra United can never aspire to have the superstar stature of Manchester United based on pure talent alone. Out of 203 countries in the world that play football, India is ranked No. 122. India ranks as low as No. 21 in football in Asia.

However we do have a home-grown franchise, the Indian Airlines hockey team, that can emulate and learn how to market itself in the global sports marketplace in the mould of Manchester United.

First off, Indian Airlines has some of the best hockey players in the world, headed by Olympians Dhanraj Pillai, Ashish Ballal, Mukesh Kumar, Dileep Tirkey and others. They are the current national champions, having won the title in December 2000 in Jammu. They were finalists in the Bombay Gold Cup (2001, 2002), won the Bombay Gold Cup in 2003, were finalists in the Jawaharlal Nehru hockey tournament in Delhi (2002) and won the Murugappa Gold Cup in Chennai (2002).

While Indian Airlines keeps winning in different tournaments across the country, they have to plan a schedule that will see Indian Airlines play in at least one premier club tournament in Europe, Australia, Asia and the Americas over the course of an year. That will ensure name recognition of the Indian Airlines brand in sporting arenas across the world, and the building of a fan base beyond the borders of the country, with the primary target group being expatriate Indians.

While all Grade I hockey tournaments in India are telecast on Doordarshan Sports, Indian Airlines should independently negotiate with a 24 hour satellite sports channel (TEN Sports?) a deal to telecast any tournament final abroad featuring Indian Airlines. Indian Airlines should also have deals with shoe companies, equipment manufacturers, and for name branding on their jerseys.

For its long term growth, Indian Airlines should plan on owning its own astro-turf field. There used to be talk of have one such field in its Kalina campus in Mumbai, though nothing came of it eventually. Also essential would be an Indian Airlines Hockey Academy (similar to the Air India Hockey Academy in the capital) for generating the next generation of hockey players for Indian Airlines and for the nation.

Interestingly, David Beckham is a product of Manchester United's in-house player farm, being first spotted by Man U scouts when he was 14 years, and then groomed within the Manchester United system from a talented teenager to a national player to an international superstar.

To sum up, Indian Airlines has the talent, star power and a consistent winning record to think beyond India and be a player in the global sports marketplace. How it achieves that would be through a fusion of media strategy, global scheduling of tours, sponsorship deals, and name brand marketing. Are there any takers in the Indian Airlines Sports Control Board for transforming the Indian Airlines hockey team from a national powerhouse to an international sports brand?

ix enterprising Pakistani national team players have chucked aside the shackles imposed by their hockey bureaucracy and signed up for playing club hockey abroad. The list of players, which includes the present Pakistan captain, vice-captain and a former captain, is as follows:

Country	Player	Position
Germany	Mohammad Nadeem	Forward (captain)
	Mohammad Waseem	Half-Back (vice-captain)
	Sohail Abbas	Full-Back
England	Aamir Saleem	?
Malaysia	Ahmed Alam	Goalkeeper (ex-captain)
	Syed Imran Ali Warsi	Full-Back/Half-Back

Like their Indian counterparts, the PHF officials made entirely predictable noises about the players not taking permission from the federation before playing abroad. They fail to realise that the federation does not have any contracts with its players and can only request the players' respective employers for their services in international events. What the players had to do, and which they did, was to obtain No Objection Certificates from their respective employers before playing club hockey abroad.

The PHF launched an 'investigation' into the absence of the players to take action against the players. Of the missing players, captain Nadeem returned from Germany in time for the 2-day selection trials, but was not allowed to participate.

Nadeem met with PHF secretary Brigadier Musarratullah Khan, and his employer - National Bank of Pakistan - also backed its player and followed up his case with the PHF. However, the outcome of these meetings was negative for Nadeem.

"After hearing Nadeem's explanation and his department's version, we have decided to penalise Nadeem by dropping him for the tour of Australia, but he can be considered for national team selection after the tour of Australia," said the PHF secretary.

Nadeem was not among the guests at a reception given by Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on May 22 to honour the Azlan Shah Cup winning Pakistan hockey team. Mohammad Nadeem had captained Pakistan to the Azlan Shah crown, but was left out by the hockey federation as a punishment for playing in Germany without seeking prior permission.

Along with Nadeem, Sohail Abbas and Mohammad Waseem were also dropped for the Australian tour. Largely due to the axing of three key players, Pakistan proceeded to lose all four matches in the Perth Hockey Challenge.

With a bureaucracy like this, who needs enemies?

Indian hockey players, both men and women, should take a leaf from their Pakistani players and actively market their talents in the foreign hockey leagues. No Indian has ever played in the highly competitive Dutch and Australian hockey leagues. Dhanraj's game as well as fitness went up a notch after his stint in the German hockey league.

It is interesting that in cricket, there has been an Indian presence in English county cricket in every decade since the early part of the past century, as the following table shows:

Decade	Player	Team
1920s	S. Nazir Ali	Sussex
1930s	Iftikar Ali Khan Pataudi	Worcestershire
1940s	Ramesh Divecha	Northamptonshire
1950s	Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi	Sussex (1957-70)
1960s	Abbas Ali Baig Farokh Engineer Eknath Solkar	Somerset Lancashire Sussex
1970s	Bishen Singh Bedi Venkataraghavan Dileep Doshi	Northamptonshire Derbyshire Nottinghamshire
1980s	Sunil Gavaskar Dileep Doshi Kapil Dev Ravi Shastri	Somerset Warwickshire Northampton/Worcester Glamorgan
1990s	Mohammad Azharuddin Ravi Shastri Sachin Tendulkar Manoj Prabhakar Anil Kumble Javagal Srinath	Derbyshire Glamorgan Yorkshire Durham Northamptonshire Gloucestershire
2000s	Anil Kumble Rahul Dravid Saurav Ganguly Virendra Sehwag Javagal Srinath Mohammad Kaif	Leicestershire Kent, Scotland Lancashire Leicestershire Durham Derbyshire

The message to Indian hockey players is simple - if you are talented, ambitious, competitive and have marketable skills, play and earn money abroad. You will be a better player for that experience.

he same month that saw Castrol withdraw from sponsorship of the Indian hockey team also saw National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) sign a 1-year Rs. 1 crore deal for sponsoring the Pakistan hockey team. The sponsorship package, under which the NBP logo will be put on national team's shirts, was formally announced by NBP president Ali Raza. This has come as a major relief to the PHF which was without a major sponsor for around a year following the decision of the previous sponsor Habib Bank not to renew their 3-year deal with the PHF.

Prior to this deal with NBP, another bank, Al-Falah, had sponsored the tour of Malaysia and Egypt for Pakistan's senior and junior teams respectively. Al-Falah gave a cheque of Rs. 2.2 lakhs to the senior team for winning the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, and a similar amount to the junior team for finishing second in the Akbar-el-Yom 7-nation tournament in Cairo, Egypt.

The bank also gave special prizes for outstanding individual performances, with the senior team's penalty corner shooter Sohail Abbas and the junior team goalkeeper Salman Akbar being awarded Rs. 20,000 each. Sohail Abbas was declared the man of the tournament in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, while Salman Akbar was selected as the best goalkeeper of the Akbar El-Yom tournament.

Apart from the above sponsorship deals, Pakistan hockey is also benefiting from being a favoured sport of the ruling establishment. Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf invited the Azlan Shah Cup winning hockey team to President House in Islamabad for a reception where he awarded a cash prize of Rs. 2 lakhs to each member of the team. Musharraf said that he had watched a little bit of Pakistan's matches in the tournament and was impressed by the players' performance in the five-nation event.

At the reception held on May 22, General Musharraf promised Rs. 2 crores to be given to the team for winning any major event like the Olympics, World Cup or Champions Trophy, and Rs. 1 crore for winning the Asian Games hockey title. Pakistan team manager Shahnaz Shaikh praised the gesture of General Musharraf and hoped it would prove a tonic for the players to work hard and win medals for Pakistan.

Due to a major grant by General Musharraf to upgrade the hockey infrastructure in Pakistan, 8 to 10 artificial turf pitches would be in place in 2003, while another 6 to 8 pitches would be laid in the year 2004. Two new astro-turf hockey grounds would be put in place at Abbottabad and Sialkot, while poligras artificial turfs would be replaced in Quetta, Peshawar, Karachi, Islamabad and Hyderabad.

The South Asian Federation Games Secretariat has given a special grant of Rs. 50 lakhs to the PHF. Pakistan Punjab (West Punjab) chief minister Chowdhary Parvez Elahi has allocated Rs. 3.5 crores for the upgradation and renovation of the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore. This follows meetings between the Punjab chief minister and PHF president General Mohammad Aziz Khan and PHF secretary Brig. Musarratullah Khan.

Of the allotted amount, Rs. 2.5 crores will be used to renovate media and spectators' enclosures, players changing rooms, VIP lounge, beautification of the main building and repair of allied areas. The amount will be given to Punjab Sports Board who will carry out this renovation and upgradation work based on PHF's proposal.

Rs. 1 crore would be used to construct a two-story residential hostel which can accommodate about 80 people. This will reduce PHF's financial burden and expenditure it has to incur on boarding and lodging of the teams playing at the National Stadium.

The Punjab chief minister is also considering allotting a special grant of Rs. 1 crore to the PHF for laying synthetic turfs in Gujranwala and Gujrat in the Punjab province. Finally, the chief minister agreed to provide a commercial plot to the PHF in Lahore to construct a petrol pump, the money from which would sustain PHF office expenditure.

Sylvanus Dung Dung

ylvanus Dung Dung finally has something to feel good about, after getting small financial help from unexpected quarters.

In the early part of the year, there were media reports that the Moscow Olympics hockey gold medallist was planning to sell the medals he earned from the game in order to make ends meet.

"I just get Rs. 2,500 as pension and have 5 dependents to feed (3 sons, 1 daughter, 1 niece). Life is becoming unbearable with each sunrise. Occasional bouts of depression due to poverty may one day force me to auction my heart and soul (the Olympic hockey gold and other medals)," Dung Dung, one of the architects of India's 4-3 victory over Spain in the 1980 Olympic final, told PTI in Ranchi.

Stung to action on reading this media report, Professor Ishwar Murthy from Hong Kong initiated an online appeal on BharatiyaHockey.org to first locate and then help Dung Dung. Seeing the appeal, Vikas Choudhary from USA contacted his brother in Ranchi who then went to a residential SAI sports school in Bariyatu and obtained Dung Dung's contact details. Arumugam of Stick2Hockey.com fame from Delhi then talked to Dung Dung on the phone and obtained his bank account details.

Dung Dung can be contacted as follows:

Sylvanus Dung Dung
B-64, Harmu Housing Colony
Ranchi 834012
Jharkhand, India
Residence Telephone: (0651) 2245765
Account No. 3274, Bank of India, Dronda Branch, Ranchi

Those of you who wish to help him may do so by getting in touch with him directly. The following amounts have been received by Dung Dung so far:

Who	Amount	Amount (Rs.)
Prof. Ishwar Murthy	HK$ 1000	Rs. 6000
BharatiyaHockey.org	US$ 125	Rs. 6000

Dung Dung is willing to coach too, despite the lack of a formal coaching certification. The former master craftsman pleads: "For the time being, I shall be happy to coach even a school team as it will supplement my meagre income. However, my applications for coaching are being turned down as I am not a product of the National Institute of Sports, Patiala. My only request to the Jharkhand government and the Indian Hockey Federation is to utilise my experience in any coaching job. This would benefit the youngsters and give me a new lease of life as well."

The veteran right-back played all the three majors - the Olympics (1980), World Cup (1978) and the Asian Games (1978) - and successfully coached the Central Command team from Lucknow to four consecutive victories in the Army hockey championship. Dung Dung, who joined the army on January 27, 1965, represented Bihar and Services in the Rangaswami Cup, the national hockey championship, between 1977 and 1981, before retiring in 1988.

The 56-year-old Adivasi sportsman hails from Simdega district in Jharkhand, which has produced a large number of national and international players. Former internationals Michael Kindo, Justine Kerketta, Noel Topno and James Kerketa are Dung Dung's contemporaries, while Bimal Lakra is a member of the present India team that is touring Australia. Three women players - Sumarai Tete, Kanti Baa and Masira Surin - who were part of the Commonwealth Games gold medal winning hockey team - belong to the same district.

The IHF has yet to show any sort of interest in helping Dung Dung, making a mockery of the fact that they are the apex body for the sport and its players in the country. But at the individual level, let's all pitch in and help Sylvanus Dung Dung. That's the least one can do for a player who won the Olympic gold medal for India.

 

odagu, the smallest district in Karnataka is known as the Scotland of India. Kodagu is also the hockey hotbed of Karnataka, having produced such illustrious players as B. P. Govinda, M. P. Ganesh, B. K. Subramani, A. B. Subbaiah, K. K. Poonacha, C. S. Poonacha, Jagadish Ponnappa, Len Ayyappa, and Amar Ayyamma.

The Kodava Hockey Festival, involving only Kodava families, is listed in the Limca Book of World Records as the largest family sports tournament in the world. Every year, the tournament takes on a different name and is held in a different town, based on the family that is organizing it. The tournaments are held under the aegis of the Kodava Hockey Academy.

This family tournament dates back to 1997 when Pandanda Kuttappa and his brother thought of having a common platform where all the Kodavas could come together and play the game they love most. The tournament has grown rapidly in size from its early beginnings, as seen from the table below:

Year	Organizing Family	Nos. of Teams
1997	Pandanda	68
1998	Kodira	120
1999	Ballachanda	135
2000	Cheppudira	170
2001	Nellamakkada	226
2002	Chekkera	??
2003	Kalianda	281

Each team is made up of members of only one, blood-related family. Women can also participate; they have the choice of representing either their paternal side or maternal side. Uncles, cousins, brothers and nephews who otherwise barely see each other are now part of a team effort. Many of them work in cities like Bangalore, Chennai or Delhi; they time their annual vacation to coincide with the tourney which is the talking point for months together.

The tournament has brought together fractured families, and helped bury ancient animosities. That was true till the 2003 edition, where as many as 281 teams competed in the Kalianda Gold Cup held in Madikeri, which was won by the Nellamakkada family team. However, the lowlight of the tournament was a fracas between a player from the Kullettira family and an umpire. The crowd entered the ground during the altercation and roughed up the player who hit the umpire.

The Tournament Director suspended the 3-time champion Kulletira family from the tournament, and there is talk of the Kulletira family resorting to legal action against the tournament organisers. International umpires, players, coaches and others involved at high levels of hockey administration were present when the unruly incident occurred.

unjab National Bank (PNB) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) entered into an agreement to establish the PNB Hockey Academy at the Major Dhyan Chand stadium in Delhi.

Under the agreement, SAI will provide its sports facilities, including synthetic turf, scientific support and coaches, while PNB will bear all the expenses of running the academy, providing for the players' boarding and lodging, equipment and competition exposure. It will be a residential academy and the trainees will be paid a fair amount as stipend. PNB will also arrange education for the trainees in good public schools.

Padma Shri and 1975 World Cup-winning captain Ajitpal Singh will supervise the functioning of the academy.

The SAI-PNB initiative is the second of its kind, the first being the SAI-Air India Academy, which is also located at the Dhyan Chand stadium. The PNB Academy is geared more towards the juniors, typically those in the 8-10 standards.

At an earlier press conference announcing this venture, the bank's chairman and managing director S. S. Kohli said that the academy was conceptualised by former India hockey greats like Ajitpal Singh and Harbinder Singh. According to Kohli, senior officials of the bank will oversee the functioning of the academy, with an executive director heading the management team.

Jugraj Singh gets past Paul Gaudoin - Photo courtesy Jon Buckle of Getty Images

he first leg of a 2-leg 3-nation 4-team hockey tournament was held in Perth from May 28 to June 1. India, Pakistan, Australia and Australia 'A' were the participating teams. The Indian team had at least six players in their mid-30s, including captain Dhanraj Pillai, Mukesh Kumar and Baljeet Dhillon.

Date	Result	Goal Scorers - India
May 28	India 2 - Australia 'A' 0	Dileep Tirkey, PC (25 m) Gagan Ajeet Singh (60 m)
May 29	Australia 2 - India 0
May 31	India 2 - Pakistan 0	Baljeet Singh Dhillon, PS (26 m) Prabhjyot Singh (55 m)
June 1	Australia 2 - India 1	Dhanraj Pillai, PC (49 m)

Pakistan came to the tournament after dropping three key players for disciplinary reasons - skipper Mohammed Nadeem, penalty-corner expert Sohail Abbas and left-half Mohammed Waseem. The trio were axed after they took part in the German Hockey League (Bundesliga) without seeking permission from the Pakistan Hockey Federation. Dropping Sohail Abbas was a fatal blow, since he was Pakistan's highest scorer for the last three years.

Without these three key players, Pakistan came last in the tournament, losing all four of their matches, including a loss to the Australia 'A' development team. Just six weeks earlier, the full-strength Pakistan team which included the three dropped players had won the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia beating world champions Germany in the final.

At the end of the tournament, India holds a 4-1 advantage in the last 5 matches played against Pakistan. However, against Australia, India has only a 1-6 record in the last 7 matches played against Australia.

The Indian team was as follows:

Goalkeepers: Devesh Chauhan, Kamaldeep Singh

Full-Backs: Dileep Tirkey, Kanwalpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh

Half-Backs: Ignace Tirkey, Bimal Lakra, Vikram Pillai, Viren Rasquinha, Prabodh Tirkey, Baljit Singh Saini, Sandeep Michael

Forwards: Dhanraj Pillai, Baljeet Singh Dhillon, Gagan Ajeet Singh, Prabhjyot Singh, Tejbeer Singh, Tushar Khandekar

Officials: Chief Coach - Rajinder Singh, Assistant Coach - Baldev Singh, Penalty Corner Coach - Harendra Singh

Based on Match Reports by Micky Aigner of The Indian Express - Pune

he 34th Junior National Women's Hockey Championship was held in Pune from May 6 - 11. The matches were played at two venues - Ammunition Factory, Khadki, ground and Khadki Cantonment Board ground.

Midway through the tournament, Himachal Pradesh lodged an official protest on the age validity of four Jharkhand girls - Asunta Lakra, Guddi Kumari, Amruta Minz and Sushma Minz. Hosts Women's Hockey Association of Maharashtra (WHAM), in accordance with the protest rules, had to go through the process of referring the girls to medical experts for age verification. If proved overage, Jharkhand would be scratched from the tournament.

After a night of trepidation, Jharkhand, coached by L. K. Minz, breathed easy. The Indian Women's Hockey Federatoin (IWHF) dismissed Himachal's claims by officially informing hosts WHAM that Jharkhand's records were in order. IWHF thus gave the Jharkhand players eligibility status for the tournament, and the four players did not have to go through medical tests to ascertain their ages.

Orissa and Jharkhand reached the final with the following match results:

Date	Orissa	Jharkhand
May 5		beat Gujarat 13-0
May 6	beat Madhya Pradesh 6-0	beat Himachal Pradesh 10-0
May 8	beat Uttaranchal 2-0	beat Delhi 6-0
May 10 (semis)	beat Uttar Pradesh 3-2	beat Haryana 4-1

In the final played on May 11, Orissa huffed and puffed before subduing an off-colour Jharkhand 4-3 in the tie-breaker, after both teams shared a goal each in full time and extra-time. A huge turnout at the Ammunition Factory, Khadki, ground bore witness to a match that went down to the wire, which eventually saw a vastly improved Orissa, coached by Amulya Nandu Bihari, pick up their fourth junior title.

Orissa was the first to score when Basanti Lakra slammed home Anjana Barla's setup off their fourth penalty-corner in the 53rd minute. Shaken by the goal, Jharkhand went all out and their equaliser came off a penalty-corner ten minutes later. The goal was a brilliant high flick executed by Amrita Minz with excellent presence of mind after Sushma Kiran's effort was blocked.

In the tie-breaker goalkeeper Pushpanjali proved the heroine for Orissa, blocking out the strokes of Asunta Lakra, Guddi Kumari and Dulali Minz, after Seting Soy and captain Sushila Lakra found the goal with their strokes. Orissa, on the other hand, after choking with their second and fourth strokes, taken by Ranjita Barla and Rinna Kispotta, netted through Anjana Barla, Sumitra Tirkey and Poonam Tirkey.

Orissa, who went into the final as ‘underdogs’, thus maintained their clean slate against Jharkhand in the four times they played so far. This is also the fourth national title for Orissa, who had won earlier in Mumbai (1999), Chennai (2000) and Jalandhar (2001).

In an earlier match, defending champion Haryana beat Uttar Pradesh 1-0 through a goal by Kanupriya in the 49th minute to finish third.

The following were the awards given: Best Defender: Manjiri (Uttar Pradesh); Best Forward: Poonam Singh (Uttar Pradesh); Highest Scorer: Guddi Kumari and Amrita Minz (Jharkhand); Player of the Tournment: Asunta Lakra (Jharkhand).

The 1975 World Cup Final in Kuala Lumpur

he Photograph of the Month for June features Shivaji Pawar in action in the 1975 World Cup final between India and Pakistan. India went on to win this hockey classic 2-1. Shivaji Pawar was the centre-forward of the victorious team. He scored a goal against Germany (India won that match 3-1), and also scored a goal against Malaysia in the semi-final, which India won 3-2.

The 1975 World Cup was unique in many aspects. It was the first hockey World Cup to be held on Asian soil. 3 of the 4 semi-finalists were Asian, both the finalists were Asian. In no other World Cup has this feat been repeated. This was the only World Cup final between India and Pakistan in any sport. India scored two goals against Pakistan for the first time. This was the first World Cup final to be telecast by Doordarshan.

In India, in every government office, in each restaurant, in every cinema hall, in every other meeting place, the Indo-Pak final became a talking point. For people travelling by air that day, some Indian Airlines pilots announced over the public address systems of the aircraft that India had equalised, and later that India had won.

There is also the story of film star Manoj Kumar, who due to his fear of air travel, was travelling by train. When the train entered a wayside station, he pleaded with the guard to delay the train for 5 minutes so that they all could learn of India's fate in the World Cup. After India won, the train started on its journey again.

India's victory in the World Cup was celebrated with great joy and parades of the team in different parts of the country. Hockey in India got a whole generation of young fans by that one world title.

outh Africa’s biggest supermarket chain, SPAR, has announced a sponsorship deal of Rand 5.2 million that will cover the women's national hockey team, the women's inter-provincial tournament and the u-21 President's Cup inter-provincial tournament.

SPAR Marketing Director Roelf Venter said that women's sports provides an exciting platform on which to market the SPAR stores and build its brand. "Women’s hockey has considerable popular support, it is efficiently managed and it has massive potential to grow in the future. Women's hockey is rated as the number one sport in South Africa in terms of growth, and the sport has the added advantage of having a sound development programme in South Africa."

"In addition," said Venter, "the majority of our customers are women, and we believe we have a duty to support them." SPAR has supported South African women's hockey since the Olympic qualifier in Cape Town in 1995.

In Australia, Kookaburra Sport has signed a 4-year deal to be the exclusive supplier of off-field apparel for the national women’s team. Kookaburra Sport is already the official supplier of hockey balls and bags to Hockey Australia.

he popular Hindi magazine National Sports Times celebrated its 9th anniversary recently at TT Nagar stadium in Bhopal. The function was presided over by Union Sports Minister Vikram Verma.

On this occasion many sports personalities including Olympian and ex-hockey captain Zafar Iqbal, Bhopal's first Arjuna Puraskar winner Jalaluddin, hockey superstar Dhanraj Pillai, television and radio commentator Sushil Doshi, vice-president of the Madhya Pradesh women's hockey association, Anil Verma, and others were invited and honoured by the minister.

Renowned hockey critic, sports writer and author of many sports books, Shri Arun Arnaw was honoured for his outstanding work in the field of sports journalism by the minister.

Indrajit Mourya is the editor of the Bhopal-based magazine National Sports Times.

Surjit Singh Brar, senior team manager of the Toronto Lions Field Hockey Club, is this edition's Visitor of the Month. Surjit had the following to say to BharatiyaHockey.org:

I played hockey for 30 years in India, playing with stalwarts like Ajit Singh, Varinder Singh and others. 1n 1970, Rajinder Singh (New Delhi) and I played in the same team for two years. I will be visiting India in June 2003 and hope to meet Rajinder Singh.

It is nice to see that someone is keeping the whole world up to date on Indian field hockey. Keep up good work. If any player is coming to Toronto, Canada, and wants to play hockey, please contact me. Thanks.

he 2003 Champions Trophy to be held in Amstelveen from August 16 to 24 is the silver jubilee edition of this prestigious annual event. India has qualified for this premier event only 9 times, has never won the title, and has finished last twice. India's Champions Trophy results are listed below:

Nos.	Year	Venue	India	Gold
2nd	1980	Karachi	5th	Pakistan
4th	1982	Amstelveen	3rd	Netherlands
5th	1983	Karachi	4th	Australia
7th	1985	Perth	6th (last)	Australia
8th	1986	Karachi	5th	Germany
11th	1989	Berlin	6th (last)	Australia
17th	1995	Berlin	5th	Germany
18th	1996	Chennai	4th	Netherlands
24th	2002	Cologne	4th	Netherlands

India has lost more than 50% of its matches played in the Champions Trophy. In its 9 appearances, India has the following match record:

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Goals For	Goals Against
49	15	8	26	102	139