Monchengladbach (GERMANY): Nostalgia is the sentiment as one saunters down the suburb of this beautiful German town to the Wasteiner Park, the venue of the hockey World Cup starting on Wednesday.

From Barcelona in 1971 down to the 11th edition at Monchengladbach, a rewind of this summit competition reads like a fantasy. It is no exaggeration to state that the sport has gone through a metamorphosis — some might term it as a revolution — from natural grass to synthetic.

If the forwards were looked upon as goal-scorers, the emphasis has clearly shifted to penalty corner specialists. This cannot be better substantiated than by the list of top scorers since 1971.

Barring Ric Charlesworth in 1986 (with seven) and Taco van den Honert in 1994 (10), the rest of the leaders have been defenders who specialised in penalty corners. Tanvir Dar of Pakistan signalled the start with eight in 1971. Ties Kruize, Dutch icon with nine in 1973, has the unique distinction of donning the Dutch colours in six championships.

Another Dutch maestro, Paul Litjens, is at the top with 15 goals scored in 1978 in Buenos Aires, followed by Rajinder Singh (jr.) in Bombay 1982 and Jay Stacey of Australia at Utrecht in 1998 with 12 goals each. Jorge Lombi of Argentina and Sohail Abbas shared the honours with 10 each in the last edition.

Pakistan impressive

Interestingly enough, of the 24 countries that have figured in the competition only five — Pakistan, India, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany — have taken part in all the 10 editions. Pakistan has the maximum number of cup victories — four to be accurate, 1971, 1978, 1982, and 1994 — followed by the Netherlands at three — 1973, 1990, 1998. India (1975), Australia (1986) and Germany (2002) have won the trophy once each.

Pakistan's record is enviable. It has totalled the highest number of 209 goals and the honour of winning 48 matches, the biggest (12-3) against New Zealand in 1982 in Bombay. Pakistan also figures as the team that has scored most number of goals in one tournament — 48 in 1982.

Inconsistent

Comparatively, India's showing, barring the trophy triumph in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur, is inconsistent. The performance chart on the natural grass, no doubt, is good; third in 1971, second in 1973, champion in 1975, sixth in 1978, fifth in 1982. But when artificial surface was introduced in 1986 at Willesden, India dropped to the last position — 12th, below Pakistan. At Lahore in 1990 and again in 2002, India finished at 10. The best placing on synthetic turf was at Sydney in 1994, where India was ranked No. 5.

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