Champions Trophy qualifier likely to come India's way

By S. Thyagarajan

AMSTERDAM, MAY 30. Even as the Champions Trophy for men and women at Amstelveen is tearing away to a climax, working through a phase of turbulence - in the real sense of the term - with the searing wind and rain forcing the cancellation of play on Sunday (May 28), the conference rooms at Golden Tulip Hotel, near the Schiphol Airport, are busy with committees discussing and debating points on their agenda, charting ways and means to infusing new vigour and vitality to competitive hockey.

The recommendations, which emerged after a great deal of deliberations, are to be placed for approval at the executive board meeting on June 3, a day before the final.

Of some importance to India, which does not figure in the Champions Trophy, from this Dutch metropolis, is the failure of its bid to host the World Cup qualifier next year.

India jumped the gun identifying Hyderabad as a possible venue, and then proposed New Delhi, with a possible second pitch installed near the National Stadium. But the Competitions Committee which examined other bids is said to have entertained some misgivings about India ensuring a second synthetic pitch for the qualifier by next year.

The governmental guarantee to an FIH official on his last visit to India obviously has not been accepted in the light of the failure to take follow up action or updating the development.

The committee, in the end, after examining various other options, including the possibility of India winning an automatic place to the Kuala Lumpur World Cup in 2002, awarded the World Cup qualifier championship to Scotland.

The event is expected to be staged in November 2001, possibly in Edinburgh.

However, India's bid to stage the first Champions Trophy qualifier has been considered favourably and is likely to be accepted.

Mr. Muneer Sait and Mrs. Arnavaz Damania, attended the meeting of the Competitions Committee.

The two-day deliberations of the Media and Public Relations Committee, headed by Mr. David Burt, dwelt at length on various issues aimed at projecting hockey to a wider audience utilising the modern means of communication. The meeting reviewed the reports of the media officers from the pre-Olympic qualifying tournaments for men at Osaka and women at Milton Keynes. A panel of names was short-listed for nomination as media officer for the Olympics at Sydney.

The meeting discussed FIH publications, TV arrangements and took note of the increasing number of web-sites showing interest in covering the important championships. The format of picking the International Player of the Year Awards was also reviewed, and the agenda of the trophy presentation here on June 1 by the president of FIH, Mr. Juan Calzado, was also prepared and approved.

Stephan Veen and Alyson Annan, best players of the year

This is the second year of the award for the best men and women player of the year.

Stephan Veen of the Netherlands and Alyson Annan of Australia were nominated for the awards last year, and they were presented the awards in Cairo during the 75th anniversary of the FIH.

Fifteen men and 17 women have been nominated for this year's awards, and from this a selection panel consisting of two members of athletics commission, two from competition committee, two umpires and two journalists (including this writer) selected the awardees under the chairmanship of Steve Jespan of South Africa.

There is as yet no clear indication about the qualifiers of the Junior World Cup to come off at Hobart next year. The FIH guidelines that the number will be determined proportionately to the teams in the fray has generated a lot of speculation. Whether Asia will have three, four or even five, is unclear against the fact that as many as 22 countries are in the fray from Europe. Only 11 countries participated in the Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur last month.

The expectation is that Asia's quota may settle down to three, although there is lobbying for the fourth, (Japan). There is some pressure too to include Pakistan, the former champion, which finished fifth at Kuala Lumpur.

Europe is likely to have six candidates. Australia qualifies both as champion of Oceania and as host, and whether this should pave the way for a second team - New Zealand - to come in is also being debated.

There is, however, some scope for manoeuvre this time since the field at Hobart (Australia) will be 16 against the 12 in the previous edition at Milton Keynes.

A clear picture on the qualifiers is unlikely to emerge before the next congress in Paris by which time the continental championships would have been completed.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the meetings here is the move to restructure the top administration in the FIH. There is a proposal to merge the Executive Board (EB) and the Council to form a single unit.

At the moment, the EB is composed of 10 and the Council 28, making it a total of 38. The new Board is to be restricted to 20, which will include the five presidents of the Continental federations, and the rest getting elected.

How many from Asia will be find a place among this 20 is an interesting speculation. The reaction to restructuring the FIH seems to be mixed at this point.

The FIH will also decide here whether the congress is to be held once in two years or annually. Opinion is divided on this issue. The next congress will be held in Paris from November 20 to 25.

On Monday, the FIH arranged a dinner and a canal cruise around Amsterdam, during which two senior officials, Messrs Roger Self of England and Rheinold Borgmann of Germany, were honoured. Mr. Calzado, president, FIH, handed over the diploma of merit and a memento to both.

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