The ball in the KL CT 2007 is all set to roll in a few hours time. All the eight teams are already here in the august Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium, Australia being the last team to arrive. On a formal reconnaissance it appears the teams have brought their best talents. If the seriousness with which the teams have taken the practice sessions and practice matches are any indicators, all teams here are there to deliver a message or two, and in the process ready to learn a lesson or two from the better teams as well. No coach here is ready to speculate on the Team that would grace the centre dais on the 9th, eleven days from here. It also appears the coaches having become theoreticians and master manipulators on systems and set pieces, would let their new brain wave works on the field rather than just work for winning alone.

The real charming of all teams being equal, which is cornerstone of this competition, is need not necessarily be applicable for the edition. You cannot give weightage to so many geo-political considerations, ready to compromise on host city, and then still assert the purity of purpose for which the Champions Trophy concept came into being is held forth firmly. In the larger interest of the game, missing of this aspect can be ignored.

That there are eight teams here, Malaysia and England being the two teams who made it to the grade on account of being the successful host and the latter due to sudden wisdom on the part of FIH which found the English team is fifth in the 2006 World Cup, however, gives more matches on the field and variety of statistical dish to be savoured along with that.

Not to be undone, and of course not for the first time, some other teams are also here. China, the host of the next Olympics and Canada, the team that upstaged much fancied Argentina in the latest Pan-American Games and thus will have the Beijing presence, are here in full strength, not just the team but the support staff as well.

Canadian coach considers the opportunity the team got in playing four matches so far, and two more to be played out, comes out economically. Because, as he lets you know, except USA they do not have any major team to play and practice on their home yards, and having been qualified for the Olympics that won’t suffice at all.

China is on the known path. They came to Chennai CT 2005, with the full team and played against all and sundry teams. The much ignored trip came to be highlighted once they outwitted both India and Pakistan at the Doha Asian Games in a year’s time, where the team for the first time in their history reached the finals only to be overwhelmed by the neighbour Korea. China here has already played for matches, high intensity ones all.

With Global Positioning System enabled handsets, strapped on the chest, sometimes on the wrists and also inserted in the jersey’s backside pouches, the Australian players held on their practice sessions. According to Mark Hager, the Australia’s Under-21 coach, the instruments are costly, but give a fair idea of work load of each player, especially in terms of speed and distance covered. “If you analyse the data you can make out very approximately which zone is active, slack and things like that.”

It is learnt that it will be maiden experience for the Aussies to use the GPS in a match situation.

It may be GPS for Aussies, may be some other tools for the rest of the teams assembled here, the one aspect that should be noted is, unmistakable, omnipresent urge to innovate and seek new avenues of technologies to push and synergise human efforts with technological advancements. Purists might not like it, but the purpose and dynamics of winning in sports fields have undergone such a sea change that it becomes the only aim of any sporting activity. Field hockey is not an exception to the emerging global ethos. The systems and strategies, both on and off fields, that we would witness here in the next 11 days will have their logical extension at Beijing. To that extent, KL is going to be an extraordinary test best. Extraordinary content of competition.