EVENTFUL as ever, the ebb and flow of competitive hockey in the year that went by provided the inputs for a fascinating introspection. It mirrored a melange of moods - from hope to despair, from delight to depression, from uncertainty to optimism. Sport has its inbuilt resilience to smother shocks in whatever form they surface, and hockey, thanks to its intrepid administrators, who took charge in April this year, steered clear of all the impediments with a rare sense of fortitude and foresight.
From a global viewpoint, hockey enhanced its vibrancy with competitions spread over into every continent. This might not have been a year of the Olympics or the World Cup, but the preceding events for men and women for the World Cup and the final junior World Cup challenges held the centre-stage. What, however, needs to be put in the right perspective is the endeavour and success in getting the administration restructured. And this included a member of the Athletes Commission (Rechelle Hawkes of Australia) as part of the Executive Board.
Predictably, it was not an easy task, but persuasion, persistence and patience paid off when the flab was finally removed to bring in a well-structured 21-member force to conduct the administration. The creation of this apparatus was accomplished in April at Brussels amidst palpable tension and excitement almost triggering a debate whether the community will stand divided on the election of the President. Els van Breda Vriesman, the incumbent Secretary-General, contested for the post against the suave Frenchman, Alain Danet. Although the contours of the polarisation were visible on the eve of the elections, the 61-year-old charming Dutch lady sailed through on the second count after the 40-40 deadlock.
A multifaceted personality, a linguist, a sportswoman and, above all, a seasoned administrator, Els was accepted as the popular choice along with her Australian nominee, Peter Cohen, as the Secretary-General. Els makes history in whatever she does. In the same way as she did in 1994 taking over as the first woman Secretary-General, Els became the first-ever woman President, taking the mantle from the debonair Spaniard, Juan Calzado. And what more, Els also won the nomination to the prestigious Council in the International Olympic Committee.
Peter Cohen was an apt foil, a solicitor in Melbourne holding a variety of positions within the Aussie hockey fraternity. Soft-spoken yet articulate, befitting his stature as a lawyer, he was an instant hit with the administrators of various sections within the FIH. May be, it is too early to judge the efficacy of the new administration but what has been accomplished in the short term between April and now conveys the impression that it is moving on the right track, with a fixity of purpose laced with the elements of realism.
There was a lot of debate over the format of competitions involving 16 teams. But having agreed to this proposal sanctioned by the previous regime, the pledge had to be honoured despite forcing enormous strain on the host countries. Both the junior World Cup finals were played on a 4 x 4 format, but Malaysia, scheduled to hold the next World Cup at Kuala Lumpur, declined to entertain that system. Instead, it opted to have eight teams each in two pools. The logic substantiating the need was immediately accepted by the FIH. Even the request to advance the dates by a week so as to avoid a clash of dates with the F-1 racing in Malaysia was acceded to by the FIH. The women's qualifier held at two different venues, Amiens and Abbeville, was played in two pools of eight teams each but the men's at Edinburgh went on the four-four format. The complications inherent in such systems were clear enough when the events unfolded. Primarily, it is the cost factor for the host nations apart from stretching the tournaments beyond the two-week limit. Finally, and pragmatically, the FIH decided to revert to the 12-team format for the World Cup and Olympics.
Scotland put through a strenuous 16-nation qualifier at Edinburgh from where seven teams made the grade for the next World Cup. On top of the heap was Argentina, for whom Jorge Lombi cut a new dimension in penalty corner execution, finishing with a tally of 19 goals. With the sparkling winger, Mario Almeida, he totalled 28 goals for his team whose supremacy was never in doubt in the tournament. Spain and Poland picked up their places with good performances. Belgium put up a brave show to keep France out of the reckoning by taking a semi-final berth. It came back into the World Cup fold after a gap of eight years.
Put down as a favourite, India struggled through both the first and second stages. With the preponderance of junior stars, India lacked the vigour and verve to outpace the rivals but eventually made it after a narrow win over Canada. Coach Cedric D'Souza, who steered the team through a four-nation tournament in Milton Keynes the week before, was a much relieved man. India finished fifth followed by Japan, which staged a comeback into the World Cup after 27 years, and New Zealand.
The women's qualifier did not have such a smooth sailing. Although England created a history of sorts, taking the gold, followed by Russia, Ukraine, Japan and Scotland, trouble surfaced while determining the sixth and seventh qualifiers between Ireland and Lithuania. A technical flaw in maintaining the sequence in the tie-breaker erupted into a major controversy. Lithuania was disqualified for refusing to appear for the retake of the tie-breaker. Ireland was declared sixth, and India was upgraded to seventh and lined-up to play a three-Test series against the United States to determine that spot. United States was granted a special exemption to skip the event when all its efforts to get into France failed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on WTO and Pentagon on September 11.
Things did not end there. Lithuania appealed against the verdict with a possible threat of taking up the matter with the CIS (Court of Arbitration in Lausanne). The FIH, at its meeting in Brussels in November, took up the issue with the Disciplinary Commission headed by the former Vice-President, Sultan Azlan Shah. The Commission, which met the representatives, ruled that the contestants should figure in the Champions Challenge in South Africa next February and the top two would take the sixth and seventh spot. But Ireland did not agree to this suggestion and decided to seek legal measures to fight its case. In effect, the last word has not been said on this issue.
Momentous however from India's standpoint was the triumph in the Junior World Cup at Hobart. The victory was rightly acclaimed as something extraordinary after the 1975 World Cup by the seniors and to some extent the gold medal win in the Moscow Olympics. Led by Gagan Ajit Singh, son of the former Olympian Ajit Singh, India overcame its opponents by convincing margins, recording a 6-1 triumph over Argentina in the final. A defeat against Australia put a question mark over India moving into the semi-final, facing a must-win situation against Holland after drawing 2-2 against Argentina in the second stage. But India beat Holland 3-2 to move into the semi-final where it beat Germany by the odd goal in five.
Two players were outstanding for India. Deepak Thakur, the Himachal Pradesh born and SAI Sports School, Patiala-trained star, slammed 10 goals to be the top-scorer and Player of the Tournament, followed by Jugraj Singh, who was a terror to the goal-keepers with his awesome dragflicks. Deepak also had the distinction of scoring a hat-trick in the final. The triumph was a great occasion for the chief coach, Rajinder Singh, who took the sub-junior team to the Asian title in Ipoh and also made a fine impression at the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Kuala Lumpur where India finished fifth.
It was also a fruitful year for Argentina, whose men won the qualifier with a superlative performance. The women surpassed expectations by taking the Champions Trophy at Amstelveen defeating the home team 3-2. But the junior team, favourite at the Buenos Aires World Cup, failed before an inspired South Korea which won via the tie-breaker.
Germany, under the new coach, Berhnard Peters, had a sensational sequence of wins starting from the Panasonic Cup which included Pakistan, Netherlands and Korea. The Germans regained the men's Champions Trophy at Rotterdam beating the Aussies 2-1, thanks to a consistently splendid show by Florian Kunz, who top scored with 10 goals. Netherlands finished third followed by Pakistan and England. Surprisingly, the Olympic silver medallist, South Korea, finished at the bottom, after having taken the silver in the earlier Azlan Shah tournament against the Germans. It must be pointed out here that the men's Champions Trophy scheduled at Lahore in November was shifted to Rotterdam consequent to the security concerns raised by the participants after the September 11 terrorist attack.
The unilateral decision provoked some resentment within Pakistan's administration. Similarly, the FIH also relocated the first Champions Challenge for men and women from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur and Randburg (South Africa) respectively.
Though no major rule changes were effected, some experiments were conducted. One such was permitting to score a goal from within the 25-yard line, and this measure was employed in a few tournaments in Australia and India. In Chennai, during the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup tournament the experimental laws were tried with great success.
Looking back on the year strictly from India's perspective, it is difficult to remain unaffected by the vicissitudes of fortune. While the team began the year with a stiff three-Test series against Germany winning one in Hyderabad, it looked well set to conquer many with the win in the Prime Minister's Gold Cup at Dhaka in March. That the victory in the final came against Pakistan was significant as much as the margins in the other matches. India won 5-1 against Scotland, 3-1 against Japan, 2-1 against Bangladesh, 8-0 against Egypt in the semi-final and 3-3 (3-2) against Pakistan via the tie-breaker in the final. The struggle at Edinburgh was painful as was in the Challenge Cup at Kuala Lumpur. But India could not have bargained for completing 2001 on such an euphoric mood than winning the Champions Challenge Cup at Kuala Lumpur and move into the elite zone. India became an automatic qualifier for next year's Champions Trophy at Cologne along with the host Germany. The rest of the four teams will be determined on the basis of their ranking in the World Cup at Kuala Lumpur.
India was next only to Argentina in the pre-tournament rating at Kuala Lumpur, but prevailed over the South Americans with a classic display in a must-win situation to face the South Africans, placed in a similar situation against Malaysia, in the final. And before a large Indian gathering, the team pressured the rival into submission, to take the cup by the odd goal in three. Appropriately, the match winner was scored by Baljit Singh Dhillon, declared the Man of the final. Argentina's Jorge Lombi was the top-scorer with seven goals, while South Africa's Mike Cullen was named the Player of the Tournament. Japan won the trophy for Fair Play.
As we step into the dawn of another year in this millennium the feeling that a spectator sport like competitive hockey will acquire the fibres to confront the growing challenges from several spheres is getting stronger. The present administrative apparatus has the will, wish and wherewithal to achieve that goal. And there can be no dispute over that.
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