04 December 2004	Saturday	21 Shawwal 1425

LAHORE, Dec 3: Hockey's elitist Champions Trophy for men dribbles off here on Saturday with the Netherlands eyeing a third successive title in the glaring absence of Olympic heroes Australia.

The Kookaburras, who won their first ever Olympic gold medal at Athens in August, withdrew from the annual six-nation tournament due to security concerns. It dashed hopes of a mouth-watering rematch of the Olympic final which Australia won 2-1 through Jamie Dwyer's golden goal to deny the Netherlands their third consecutive gold medal.

The Olympic defeat rankles the Dutch so much that coach Terry Walsh pulled out star players like Teun de Nooijer and captain Jeroen Delmee from European league commitments to make the trip to Pakistan in a bid to reassert supremacy.

The Dutch, unarguably the finest team in modern hockey over the last decade, have won five of the last eight Champions Trophy titles including the 2002 and 2003 editions of a tournament described by Pakistan coach Roelant Oltmans as "tougher than the Olympics or World Cup."

Other teams in the fray at the 70,000-seater National Hockey Stadium here will be Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Pakistan and India, who secured a back-door entry after Australia pulled out.

Each team plays the other once in the round-robin league with the top two contesting the final on Dec 12. An indication of how close the competition will be came on Thursday evening when the fancied Dutch lost 0-1 in a practice match against a second-string German side containing just two Olympians.

"There will be no easy match here," said Walsh, who will return home to Australia at the end of the tournament after ending his coaching contract with the Dutch team. "There is little to choose between teams in modern hockey and any of the six are capable of winning the title.

"All the sides are looking ahead towards the 2006 World Cup, so this is going to be a very important event for all." Germany, who took the bronze at Athens, are fielding a development side with an eye on the World Cup they will themselves host in under two years.

Spain, fourth at Athens, will be without star striker Eduardo Tubau and veteran Pol Amat and go into the tournament after sharing a two-match series in India last week.

Pakistan, who have not won a major title since the World Cup in Sydney in 1994, hope to ride on home support and the amazing striking abilities of record-breaking penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas to end the drought.

Sohail, the world's leading scorer with 268 goals from 218 matches, hopes to provide a fitting farewell to coach Oltmans who returns to Amsterdam after the tournament to take charge of the Dutch team.

New Zealand, who finished a creditable sixth at the Olympics, will be tough contenders despite the retirement of penalty corner ace Hayden Shaw, who has turned to playing cricket.

India, lucky to be playing at all in elite company after being seventh at Athens, are building a new team after their best-known player Dhanraj Pillay, 35, was shown the door by the selectors.

Dec 4: New Zealand v The Netherlands, India v Spain, Pakistan v Germany

Dec 5: The Netherlands v India, Germany v Spain, New Zealand v Pakistan

Dec 6: Rest day

Dec 7: Spain v New Zealand, Pakistan v The Netherlands, India v Germany

Dec 8: The Netherlands v Spain, Germany v New Zealand, Pakistan v India

Dec 9: Rest day

Dec 10: Spain v Pakistan, New Zealand v India, The Netherlands v Germany

Dec 11: Rest day

Dec 12: Final. -Agencies