Even at best of times, awards are bound to be criticized. With three winners from The Netherlands and the other from Australia in the 2003 FIH Player of the Year Awards list, the announcement disappoints many. Barring the case of Teun de Nooijer, for whom the decoration is belated, the selection of three Others are debatable. With all due respect to the winners, I must say there were better choices among the nominees.

That three of the four winners hail from a single country does no justice to a 110-strong FIH family. More winners from Europe to some extent is understandable as the European Cup was held this year but not from single entity. To say that the awards are to the individuals and countries are not concerned will bear no logic.

Blame the selection procedure or the introduction of voting, which was not the case in the first two years since inception of these awards, the fact is the winners are getting arrowed to a small influential region as each year pass by. This takes away the sheen from the noble objective of a global award. ‘ More so in the light of the fact that all the winners this year hail from the FIH top functionaries’ countries. Forgive me for saying this, but to say this aspect does not exist in the minds of the watchers is hiding the reality. Already a strong view exists that the major tournaments are allotted to these two countries at the cost of other deserving aspirants. The pattern that emerge after six years since the introduction of the awards scheme and after identifying a dozen winners, is disturbing. To put it straight, despite one quarter of the nominees were from Asia and Africa, hardly could anyone from these regions make it so far.

Two cases are worth mentioning. First, the case of Nie Ya Li of China. The lanky goal-keeper was the force behind the Chinese resurrection. A team that hardly used to come within top three ranks even at Asian level, won two major tournaments (Champions Trophy and Asian Games) in 2002, besides winning the bronze at the Perth World Cup. OK that was last year. 2003 did not present many tournaments for the women, but the Chinese are already making waves at Sydney where the 11th edition of the Champions Trophy is underway. An award to Chinese women was due last year but given the colossal form of the Argentinean women in 2002, they did not get it. Ok. But the Chinese deserved this year. That The Netherlands women are neither the reigning champions of Champions Trophy or the World Cup, two important FIH events, should not be overlooked.

Second case pertains to 2001 Junior World Cup winning captain Gagan Ajit Singh. He was nominated last year for the ‘young’ category and this year too. The youngster has already carved a niche for himself in the world stage, scoring spectacular goals in the Asian Games, Champions Trophy, Hamburg Masters and Afro-Asian Games. That none in the selection panel witnessed the Afro-Asian Games is another matter where he scored four mesmerizing goals against Pakistan in two matches. He and his country deserved recognition. India won four the six tournaments it played in 2003 and downplaying
the feat won’t do.

It’s better not to nominate some great players of our times like Jorge Lombi and Sohail Abbas. They have been in the Nominees List almost since the awards were introduced. It’s frustrating long wait for
the duo.