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Hockey
By S. Thyagarajan
Given shape to from a speck of an idea of that visionary Air Marshal Nur Khan, who put the sport in Pakistan on a pedestal by the sheer force of his dynamism and dedication, the event today is on the threshold of the silver jubilee at the home of Dutch hockey, Amstelveen. The emphasis is not on who put forth the idea — some even claim that India too was part of the agenda — but the concept behind the venture. It was to give competitive hockey a vibrant dimension, even to the point of drawing criticism of pushing the sport into an elitist milieu. The format envisaged a trophy competition involving the six best teams in the world, based on the ratings of the Olympics and World Cup preceding the event. One cannot hide the fact that the idea was received with a tinge of scepticism, chiefly concerning the financial inputs and viability. Cassandras were not found wanting, and their calculation was that the event would be difficult to sustain for long. The pragmatist that the Air Marshal was at the zenith of his administrative tenure, converting Pakistan International Airlines as the fulcrum of hockey-related activity with the strategist like Brig. M.H. Atif on hand, convinced the doubting powers-that-be that Paksitan would host, pay for the air travel and do everything possible for the success of the event until another unit came forward to take up the task. And what more, the Air Marshal promised that Pakistan would step in and host the Champions Trophy whenever FIH found it difficult to find another host. Never had the hockey fraternity got a prescription for elevating the sport to a higher realm of excellence than the programme presented by the PHF headed by the Air Marshal. Those who claimed also to have fashioned the idea of the Champions Trophy wondered in private whether India could ever be thought of as promising as much as Pakistan had offered. The FIH administration headed by that Belgian aristocrat, Rene Frank, simply acceded. Put up for consideration at the fourth World Cup at Buenos Aires when the hockey community was marvelling at the induction of the artificial turf at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, hockey needed a high profile competition. And the inaugural Champions Trophy fitted in well in that panorama.
Historical step
But putting the paper work into practical reality was not easy. There were hurdles to inducting India after the World Cup ratings, and finally when the sound of the whistle reverberated across the gigantic National Stadium at Lahore on November 17, 1978, the first historical step was taken to put on boards the prestigious Champions Trophy. For three years, with a break in 1979, the Champions Trophy remained within the shores of Pakistan, with no other constituent member coming forward to take up the responsibility. The ice was broken in 1982 when the Netherlands, which was riding the crest of a wave of success flowing from the magnificent displays of their incomparable stars, Thies Kruize and Paul Litjens, and in the glow of the 1981 success at Karachi, came on the stage as the host. In the picturesque environs of the Wagener Stadium, the Dutch retained the cup. Interestingly, India figured in an epic contest with Pakistan, transforming the match from the clutches of defeat into a fantastic victory, Rajinder Singh, the current Indian coach, slamming in a perfect hat-trick from penalty corners. Reckoned to be outside the medal bracket till the morning of the final day, India bagged a bronze behind, the Netherlands and Australia. For an avid chronicler, the Champions Trophy will present a fascinating insight into the growth and achievement of Germany as a super power. Languishing somewhere in an obscure spot after the Olympic gold at Munich in 1972, West Germany, as it was known then, slowly began to emerge as the world power. The golden era of Steven Blocher, Heiner Dopp and Eckhard Schmidt, and not to speak of the remarkably endowed Carsten Fischer, surfaced on that glorious night at the Hockey Club of Pakistan in Karachi in 1986. Since then, Germany has picked up the glittering trophy no less than eight times, the highest by any of the 13 countries that have figured in the competition thus far. Among the 21 teams that have played in the competition — Australia is the only country to have figured in all the 24 editions held so far — Germany was out of the medal bracket only twice, fifth in 1982 at Amsterdam, and sixth at Lahore in 1998. This excellent record, possible mainly due to the consistent flow of talent from the junior ranks, touched the peak last year when Germany crowned itself World champion at Kuala Lumpur under the leadership of the towering Florian Kunz. Unique is the measure of consistency of Australia, a constant entity in the elite group. This piece of history only confirms the depth of talent in the country covering the saga of Ric Charlesworth, Terry Walsh, and Colin Batch, through those balmy days of Craig Davies, who has the highest number of appearances in the Champions Trophy, Warren Birmingham and Mark Hager. The Aussies were almost on the pin of falling out of the ambit after a dismal show last year at Cologne, losing all the five matches, but recovered to beat South Korea to take the fifth spot and remain in the fold. Constancy in the key area of power alignment induced a note of monotony into the Champions Trophy forcing the need to rework the format although teams like Argentina, Spain, England, New Zealand, France, and the USSR (before the disintegration of the Soviet Union) had figured on the board. There was even a move to give the host an automatic entry irrespective of its rating on the world scene. Malaysia played the host in 1993 at Kuala Lumpur finishing at the bottom of the pack. Another innovation was the addition of the Champions Challenge, the winner of which gets an automatic entry into the next edition. Introduced in 2001, India won the final against South Africa at Kuala Lumpur, to make the grade for the Cologne edition last year where it missed the medal losing to Pakistan in the match to decide the third and fourth places.
India's record
Taken on the whole, India's showing in the Champions Trophy has never been heartwarming. For those, statistically minded, of the nine appearances, India has one third place in 1982, three fourth places and an equal number at the fifth place, and ended at the bottom twice. Even on home turf in 1996, when India organised the event for the first and the only time so far, India earned only a fourth place, behind the Netherlands, Pakistan, Germany, with Spain and Australia following it. As the silver jubilee edition is set to roll, for the fourth time in the Netherlands, and for the third time in Amstelveen, there is optimism of India finding a podium place. This expectation is born out of the twin successes in Australia and Germany recently, but as every hockey fan worth his salt knows the Champions Trophy, next only to World Cup and Olympics in importance, is a different ball game where the competition is intense and unrelenting.
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