The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : FIH to restructure major events

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

Sport

Sport - Hockey

FIH to restructure major events

By S. Thyagarajan

CHENNAI, SEPT.14. In an attempt to enhance the profile of hockey, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has embarked on a major exercise of restructuring prestigious competitions.

At present, a task force is examining the feasibility of holding the World Championship for men and women once in two years, instead of conducting it in a gap of four years.

The next meeting of the FIH, to be held at Leipzig from November 20 to 27, will consider the recommendations of the task force.

The task force will also evaluate events like World Cup, Champions Trophy, Champions Challenge, junior World Cup and pre-World/Olympic qualifiers.

It is learnt that a consensus is emerging in favour of conducting the World Cup once in two years in a 16-team format.

There are also suggestions to minimise the number of qualifying tournaments and to give emphasise for the official rankings after major events like the Olympics and World Cup.

Not a new concept

The 16-team format is not a new concept. In fact, 16 teams were in the fray in the last edition at Kuala Lumpur, although the schedule was altered to suit the requirements of the local unit. Originally, the teams were divided into four groups with the top two making it to the last eight. Later, the IHF accepted MHF's proposal to have eight teams each in two pools.

There are also suggestions to increase the number of qualifiers from the Continental championships, apart from holding a three-tier World Championship with provisions for promotions and relegations.

The move is aimed to reduce the problems in conducting the qualifying tournament, which does not attract many sponsors.

The task force will also look into the continuation of the Champions Challenge as the qualifying event for the Champions Trophy. A section in FIH is of the view that the annual Champions Trophy itself has become stale and monotonous, notwithstanding the prestige associated with it, and feel it can be held once in two years between the World Cups.

In order to make the tournament more attractive, there are suggestions to increase the number of teams from six to eight.

In the case of junior tournaments, a consensus seems to have been evolved to increase the qualifiers in proportion to the number of teams participating in the continental tournaments.

If the recommendation is accepted, Asian quota may be increased to four qualifiers from the Asia Cup.

A clear picture of the programme and the format will emerge once the Executive Board considers the recommendations at the Leipzig Meeting.

Many are of the view that a restructuring has become inevitable, given the demands of commercial viability, TV rights and sponsors.

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