Photo Courtesy Inside Hockey

egendary hockey Olympian and Arjuna Puraskar winner Udham Singh died at his village Sansarpur on March 23, following a heart attack.

Udham Singh figured in the Guinness Book of Records for participating in four consecutive Olympic Games (1952-1964). He was also selected for the 1948 London Olympic Games, but could not go there due to an injury.

Udham Singh won 3 gold medals for India - Helsinki (1952), Melbourne (1956), Tokyo (1964), and one silver - Rome (1960), at a time when India was still at the peak of international hockey.

Apart from the Olympics, Udham was on the Indian team that toured Afghanistan, Poland (1953), and led the squad for the 1959 tour of East Africa. Udham played in the Warsaw International (1955), Lyon tournament (1963) and was the vice-captain in an international tournament at Munich.

Out of competitive hockey, Udham took to coaching the State and Punjab Police squads, and played a leading role in shaping the brilliant careers of Ajitpal Singh, Harmik Singh, Surjit Singh and a host of other players.

Udham Singh was awarded the Arjuna Puraskar in 1965, after it had been awarded to Prithipal Singh (1963) and Charanjit Singh (1964).

Born on August 4, 1928 - the year India earned Olympic honours at Amsterdam - Udham was a product of DAV College. At the age of 19, Udham won the Punjab State colours, which he retained for 17 years without a break till 1965.

Udham Singh joined Punjab Police in 1949 as assistant sub-inspector. He served with the police till 1966, when he switched jobs and joined Border Security Force. Udham became an IPS officer in 1983, and retired three years later.

Udham Singh was known for his zest for life, and till his end, was coaching children at the hockey academy founded by him in his village. His dream was to see Sansarpur, once known as the hockey nursery of India, again contribute players to the national squad.

He had married for a second time only four years ago, and leaves behind his wife and three-year old daughter.

GLOWING TRIBUTES: In Mumbai, glowing tributes were paid to Udham Singh by his erstwhile Mumbai-based teammates Leo Pinto and Joe Antic.

Pinto, the 1948 London Olympics goalkeeper, said "The position of inside-left was played with distinction by Udham. Defending the goal, I could see his way of functioning, his uncanny dribbling skills. He was a certainty for the 1948 London Games, before a hand injury ruled him out of contention."

Joe Antic, the centre-half in the Rome Olympics where India failed to win the gold for the first time since their debut in 1928, said "We were together on the 1958 East African tour and the 1959 European tour. He was an outstanding inside-left. India has stopped producing players like him."

Article by Ajitpal Singh, courtesy Rediff

dham Singh and I come from the same village -- the famous Sansarpur village, near Jalandhar. This village alone has produced more than a dozen hockey Olympians, and it is indeed sad that we should lose a great player and soul like Udham.

He is no more with us today, but when I go back down memory lane -- to the mid fifties -- I remember how, as a school boy, I used to have a go at hockey. And the source of my inspiration, of course, was none other than the great Udham Singh himself. He had already taken part in two Olympics by then; his dribbling was simply superb.

Once, a friend of mine and I joined hands to tackle him and ensure that he did not score a goal. But we were mistaken. Two young boys were no match for him and he scored goal after goal with impunity.

Udhamji was a role model not only for me but many others who represented the country at the Olympics and in international events. He was one of those who really initiated hockey in the village. 

Indeed, there is no doubt about Udham's dedication. He had top class self-control. Added to that, he was a strict disciplinarian, a great coach and a great motivator. He wanted all other sportsmen to follow his footsteps.

I had the good fortune of playing under his supervision, and I must say that as a coach he carved out the destiny of many a player who played for the Border Security Force team, where he and others like myself were employed. A fitness freak, he who would not let any of his young boys grow lethargic. He ran with us every morning to make sure that we did not slacken in our effort to stay fit. In turn, the boys would try very hard to live up to his expectations.

When we talk of his contribution to Indian hockey we have to remember that he took part in four consecutive Olympic Games - in 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964 - and had three Olympic gold medals to his credit. He would have represented the country in 1948 as well, but an injury kept him out of the team.

A great inside-left, Udham played along with all-time greats like K. D. Singh 'Babu' and Balbir Singh Sr., and was instrumental in some crucial victories India registered during his time.

We lived in the same barracks and same room at times. His death is a great, personal loss to Sansarpur village, myself and hockey lovers all over the country. Dedicated players like him are not born every day. He was of the finest order. I salute him.

Excerpts from an article by S. Tyagarajan of The Hindu

eath has deprived the hockey community of a giant in Udham Singh. The doughty warrior, who not only symbolised the essence of hockey ethos of Punjab, but also of India, passed away at Sansarpur, near Jalandhar.

If Roop Singh portrayed, in the pre-partition days, the sum and substance of the qualities that an inside forward should be endowed with, Udham mirrored the charm and craft for well over two decades in the post-war era.

It is difficult to convey to the enthusiasts of this generation the classicism that Udham displayed on the field. Hockey for Udham Singh was an art, an expression that filled the senses and triggered an emotional experience.

The stick was to him what a paintbrush would be to an artist. It was a throbbing spectacle whenever he fashioned his stocky frame to weave its way through the rival defence and leave it in a state of inertia.

A stickler for details and a strict disciplinarian, Udham was a hard taskmaster, not easily satisfied with achievements. He urged his wards to strive for more.

A measure of his commitment cannot be better exemplified than by the fact that Udham ignored the advice of his doctor to rest and recuperate after the heart- attack a few weeks ago. He went to the playground in Sansarpur to share some happy moments with his trainees. A second attack, almost immediately, proved fatal.

A hockey legend is lost forever. Only memories of his deeds linger.

nternational Olympic Committee (IOC) member Ashwini Kumar has strongly urged the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) to immediately seek the services of a reputed foreign coach to raise the standard of the national team.

Speaking at a function organised by the Nehru Hockey Society in Delhi, former IHF chief Kumar said: "Let us face it, we need a foreign coach; there are no two ways about it. Our coaches can't formulate new plans or tactics in this ever changing environment. The game is evolving very fast and we just cannot afford to be the silent spectators to these changes."

"It is time India changes its view of the game and discards old concepts. The day of a set regime of tactics like the 2-3-5 formation are over; it is total hockey now and we have to adapt to it."

He felt money should not be a problem in acquiring a foreign coach as the IOC provides aid to National Olympic Committees for this purpose, and warned that time is running out with only six months to go for the Sydney Olympics.

"We have to do something urgently if we want to regain our old glory," he said.

Ex-Olympian, Commander Nandy Singh, who also spoke at the function, endorsed Kumar's demand, though he felt it is too late now.

"A foreign coach should have been brought at least two years before the Olympics. I don't think that money was the problem at any stage. The IOC is always there to help; in fact, they had already promised money for the same."

The Six Teams That Qualified for Sydney
Photo : S. S. Kanesan, The Star of Malaysia

he qualifier for the Sydney Olympics men's hockey competition was held at the Nagai Sports Park in Osaka, Japan, from March 9 to March 19.

12 teams took part in the competition. The list included two former champions - Pakistan and Britain, who won their last Olympic gold medals in 1984 and 1988 respectively.

Pool A comprised South Korea, Britain, Japan, Belgium, New Zealand and Poland. Pool B included Spain, Pakistan, Malaysia, Argentina, Switzerland and Belarus.

South Korea and Poland qualified from Pool A, while Spain and Pakistan qualified from Pool B. In the semi-finals, Spain beat Poland 4-1 while Pakistan beat South Korea 3-1.

In the final, watched by the Emperor's cousin, Prince Takamado Nomiya, Spain beat Pakistan 3-2. Spain led 2-0 at the break. Spain finished as the only unbeaten team in the competition.

The six countries that qualified from Osaka were : 1. Spain 2. Pakistan 3. South Korea 4. Poland 5. Great Britain 6. Malaysia. The following were the awards given.

Award	Winner	Country
Best Player	Piotr Mikula	Poland
Best Goalkeeper	Jun Takahashi	Japan
Top Scorer	Sohail Abbas	Pakistan
Fairplay Trophy		Korea

6 countries had directly qualified for Sydney - holders Holland, hosts Australia and continental champions India, Germany, South Africa and Canada.

Argentina, which finished seventh at Osaka, is the first reserve team in case the South African Olympic committee stands by its decision not to field the men's hockey team in Sydney.

Agony and the Ecstasy : Japan out, Malaysia In
Photograph Courtesy : The Star of Malaysia

his is the third Olympics in a row that Malaysia had to qualify for the Olympics. On all three occasions, Malaysia was the last team to qualify.

In the 1991 qualifiers in Auckland, Malaysia finished fourth, in the 1995 qualifiers in Barcelona, Malaysia finished fifth and now in the 2000 qualifiers in Osaka, Malaysia finished sixth.

The most unlikely team to qualify from Osaka was Poland. The country has a very small hockey base, with 16 of the 18 players at Osaka coming from one city - Poznan. The Poles, who began the qualifiers with two straight defeats, came second in their pool.

"This is simply unbelievable. We only trained about a month before this tournament," said Polish coach Piotr Zgagazc. 

Poland's bright spot came when they annihilated Great Britain 5:2, with Piotr Mikula scoring all five goals. Poland had 9 field goal shots for its 5 goals and no penalty corners. 

Hosts Japan, who last played in the Olympics 32 years ago at Mexico, came away empty-handed at Osaka. In a nationally televised match, Japan lost in the playoffs with Malaysia to determine the final qualifying spot. The Japanese team, which has a South Korean coach since 1996, was promised $100,000 if it qualified for the Olympics.

Japanese players spent 90 minutes daily on penalty corner hits, trying out 22 different variations. If the players converted less than 50% of the penalty corners during practice, they were made to train an extra 30 minutes.

wenty three year old Sohail Abbas emerged as the Osaka Olympic Qualifier's leading scorer with 13 goals. Karachi-born Sohail had consecutive hat-tricks against Spain and Belarus. 

Sohail Abbas told reporters that his main mission was to bring back the lost glory of Pakistan hockey by winning the Olympics. "I do not play for myself, but for the team and the country."

Former Australian captain and current Australian coach Terry Walsh has described Sohail Abbas as among the top two penalty corner specialists in world hockey.

Commenting on his powerful scooping style, Walsh said that Sohail's natural skill of scooping and flicking is his main strength. He said that Sohail is a devastating force in Pakistan hockey, scoring multiple goals for his country. He will make the first choice in any team in the world.

In 1999, Sohail scored 62 goals to set a world record of maximum goals in a calendar year. The previous record of 58 goals in a calendar year was held by Dutch penalty corner striker Paul Litjens.

The coaches of Germany (Paul Lissek), Australia (Terry Walsh), Holland (Maurits Hendriks) and Canada (Shiaz Virjee) were all in Osaka, taking video recordings of every penalty corner taken by Sohail Abbas. The surprise was that India was not represented by its coach in Osaka.

he qualifier for the Sydney Olympics women's hockey competition was held at Milton Keynes, England, from March 24 to April 2. 

India went for the competition leaving its five best players behind - forwards Pritam Rani Thakran and Manjinder Kaur, centre-half Sita Gussain, full-back Sandeep Kaur and Nidhi Khullar.

Pritam Siwach and fullback Sandeep Kaur have got married in the last few months, leading to changed priorities. Nidhi Khullar, married to Mukesh Kumar, gave birth to a child recently. Sita Gussain and inside forward Manjinder Kaur had quoted domestic reasons.

10 teams took part in the competition. Pool A comprised Spain, Germany, USA, India and Ireland. Pool B included Russia, China, New Zealand, Japan and Britain.

India came last in the tournament, losing all its matches and scoring only 3 goals in the entire tournament. India's results were as follows:

Date	Match	Goal Scorer - India
March 24	Spain beat India 3-1	Mamata Kharab (70 m)
March 25	Ireland beat India 1-0
March 27	Germany beat India 4-0
March 29	USA beat India 2-1	Jyoti Sunita Kullu (30 m)
April 1	Russia beat India 2-1	Mamata Kharab (17 m)

Germany and Spain topped Pool A, while Britain and New Zealand topped Pool B. While these 4 countries qualified for the Sydney Olympics, the crucial 5th and last qualifying spot was won by China, who beat USA 2-0.

The above teams will join Australia (hosts, defending Olympic champions, Oceania Cup winner), Argentina (Pan Am Games winner), Korea (Asian Games winner), Netherlands (European Nations Cup winner) and South Africa (All Africa Games winner) at Sydney.

The Indian team to Milton Keynes was as follows:

Goalkeepers: Tingonleima Channu (captain), Helen Mary.

Full backs: Amandeep Kaur, Marystella Tirkey, Kanti Baa.

Halves: Sunita Dalal, Suraj Lata, Sumrai Tete, Neha Singh, Kamala Dalal, Jyoti Kullu, Ferdina Ekka.

Forwards: Mamta Kharab, Surinder Kaur, Papki Devi, Manorama Goswami.

Officials : Head Coach - G. S. Bhangu; Assistant Coach - Jaswinder Singh; Manager - Rupa Saini

oth the men's and women's Olympic Qualifiers took place last month - the men's event being held in Osaka, and the women's in Milton Keynes, England. Both the tournaments highlighted the fact that hockey is a sport primarily played in Europe and Asia. Hockey, unlike soccer, has not grown beyond its Eurasian borders.

In the men's qualifiers, 10 of the 12 participating teams were from either Europe or Asia. All the six teams that qualified from Osaka - Spain, Pakistan, South Korea, Poland, Great Britain and Malaysia - are from these two continents.

Even a traditional hockey power like Argentina has not played in any major world-ranking tournament since 1997. Argentina failed to make it to the Utrecht World Cup in 1998, and now for the Sydney 2000 Olympics as well.

In the women's qualifiers, 8 of the 10 participating teams were from either Europe or Asia. 4 out of the 5 teams that qualified from Osaka - England, Germany, Spain and China - are from these two continents.

In the Sydney Olympics, 75% of the men's teams (9 of 12) and 60% of the women's teams (6 of 10) will be from Europe or Asia.

Even in the 1998 Utrecht World Cup, 75% of the men's teams (9 of 12) and nearly 60% of the women's teams (7 of 12) were from Europe or Asia.

Photo Courtesy Hugh Routledge of The Times

he longest-standing continuous hockey fixture in Britain is probably the annual Oxford-Cambridge varsity match. The first men's match took place in Oxford in 1890, with Oxford winning that match. The first women's match was held at Wimbledon Common in 1894.

The 100th edition of the Oxford-Cambridge men's varsity match took place on March 7 at Milton Keynes. Oxford won the centenary match 2-1 to retain the Deloitte & Touche Trophy. Oxford is unbeaten in the annual fixture since 1991. However, Cambridge leads the series 45-38.

David Sellick gave Oxford the lead in the 13th minute, while Mark Darbon scored the second in the 22nd minute. Cambridge who were missing an injured Thierry Gruslin, their captain and a Belgium international, pulled one back through a penalty stroke by Edward Hauck in the 62nd minute. David Sellick of Oxford was declared the Man of the Match.

Oxford plays in the First Division of the National Hockey League, while Cambridge plays in the East League Premier Divsion. Oxford University has its own water-based artificial pitch at Iffley Road.

The Oxford-Cambridge women's match ended in a 1-1 draw. Vicky Pope scored for Oxford in the 14th minute, only for Hazel Mansfield to equalise for Cambridge in the 27th minute. Cambridge remains unbeaten in the women's fixture since 1995.

Since 1998, the men's and women's matches have been staged on the same day at the National Stadium in Milton Keynes.

Article courtesy Godfrey D'Souza of Toronto

ichard 'Dickie' Allen first played for India in 1926 when the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) joined the FIH as a full-fledged member. The IHF then had its headquarters at Gwalior. In those days hockey had a princely patronage. 

When India went on it's first foreign tour to New Zealand in 1926, Richard was the first choice goalkeeper with Arthur Hind in reserve. During the 1926 tour, India lost the opening test but won the second, so the series was squared. However, India won all the other matches against local teams. 

Richard Allen played in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam where he did not concede a single goal. In the 1932 Olympics at Los Angeles, he conceded only 2 goals, while in the 1936 Games at Berlin, he conceded a solitary goal to Germany in the final. 

The Guinness Book of World Records mentions this as a goalkeeping record, since he only conceded a total of only 3 goals during an Olympic career spanning 3 Olympic games.

Richard could have created another record by representing India in 5 Olympics had the 1940 and 1944 games not been cancelled because of the war. 

Richard was at that time employed in Calcutta with Port Commissioners, which provided the backbone of Indian teams to the Olympics till 1960. 

Eventually, Richard settled in Bangalore and was a regular visitor at the Bangalore Nationals during the seventies where he was wheeled to the games by his family. I have not heard about him since then.

he 20th All India K. D. Singh 'Babu' memorial invitation prize money hockey tournament was held from March 10 to March 18 in Lucknow.

In the quarter-final matches, Punjab and Sindh Bank (PSB) defeated Central Reserve Police Force, Delhi, by a solitary second half goal, while Indian Airlines defeated Corps of Signal, Jalandhar, by a first half goal.

In later quarter-final matches, Border Security Force (BSF), Jalandhar, defeated North Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur, 3-0, while Punjab Police defeated Army Supply Corps, Jalandhar 3-0.

Both the matches at the semi-final stage were decided in sudden death. In the first game, PSB defeated Indian Airlines, 5-4 in sudden-death tie-breaker. The match had earlier ended in a goalless draw despite fifteen minutes of extra time.

In the other semi-final, both BSF and Punjab Police were level at 5-5 after the first set of penalty strokes. In sudden death, S. Hezen and Sushil Kumar scored for BSF, while Baljeet S. Bhullar scored for Punjab Police. Harpreet Singh missed his attempt.

In an all-Jalandhar final held on March 18, Punjab & Sindh Bank defeated arch rivals and holders, Border Security Force, 3-2 to win the 20th K. D. Singh 'Babu' tournament.

ockey in Karnataka has found a valuable ally in the Bangalore-based newspaper Deccan Herald. They not only are the title sponsors of the state hockey league, but also provide good exposure to local hockey in the state.

The results of the Deccan Herald state hockey league were as follows: 

League	Winner	Runner-Up
Super Division	Madras Engg. Group	Karnataka State Police
'A' Division	Wheel and Axle Plant	Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
'B' Division	MLI, Belgaum	Coorg Hockey Association
'C' Division	Sports Authority of India	Indian Airlines

An awards function of the league was held at the premises of the Karnataka State Hockey Association (KSHA). Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Professor B. K. Chandrashekar, the chief guest, pledged to help construct floodlights at the Akkithimannahalli stadium.

KSHA President D. S. Murthy surprised his colleagues by announcing his retirement from the association, though his term expires in August. "It is time I passed the baton on to somebody else," he said during his welcome address.

Karnataka Olympic Association (KOA) President Ajay Kumar Sarnaik commended Deccan Herald for its support to hockey and athletics. He said: ''Other corporates should utilise the 100% tax exemption granted by the centre to promote sports."

uring the Osaka Olympic Qualifiers, Pakistan's hockey players visited Toyosato Elementary School in Osaka to give a demonstration of dribbling and passing skills. About 700 students gathered in the ground and gave a thunderous applause to the team on its arrival.

Pakistan team manager Islahuddin, speaking through an interpreter, thanked the school's administration for inviting them. He expressed the hope that the sport would gain more popularity in Japan with the staging of the Olympic qualifying tournament there.

The president of the school wished the team success in the Sydney Olympics and hoped they would win a gold medal. On the occasion, the students presented traditional Japanese dance 'Saran Bushi'.

Islahuddin gave away two hockey sticks to the school and a ball signed by the members of the team. He also distributed the Pakistan national flag among the students. The school in turn presented some souvenirs to the Pakistan hockey team.