LAHORE, Dec 9: Australia's striker Jamie Dywer was named 2004 World Hockey player of the year on Thursday under the cloud of controversy with media challenging the criteria and the leakage of the winner's name before the announcement.

International Hockey Federation (FIH) found itself in a tight spot when the reporters asked its president was the criteria to choose the player for the award was fair. "Of course the players have been voted without any bias.

It was the international players who chose Jamie for the award not the FIH," the FIH chief Els van Breda told reporters after the announcement of the winner. Asked why Dwyer had been awarded, she said the player was nominated by a panel of experts not by FIH.

Dywer, 25, who was voted by the players participating in the ongoing Champions Trophy here, had staged a comeback after almost year and half layoff because of knee injury, scoring seven goals at Athens Olympics including a golden goal that helped Kookaburras win the first the gold.

According to a FIH press release, Dwyer, also 2002 player of the year, was the runaway winner, gaining 47 per cent of the total number of votes. The Aussie has scored 60 goals from 93 games which surprised the local media since one of the nominees Sohail Abbas has recently broke 267-goal world record held earlier by Dutch legend Paul Litjens.

Sohail has also established 33-goal Champions Trophy mark, shattering 32-goal record by Australia's Mark Hager. FIH says that nominations were proposed by an international panel of expert coaches and journalists.

Expert coaches on the panel were Ric Charlesworth and Terry Walsh, the two Australian legends, while Bruce Hamilton, Sardar Khan, Pat Rowley and S. Thyagarajan were the journalists.

The votes were given by the players on the basis of performance at Olympic qualifiers in Madrid, Olympic Games in Athens, and Champions Trophy in Lahore, says FIH. Interestingly, Dwyer is not playing at the ongoing Champions Trophy. Spaniard Santiago Freixa, 21, was voted the World Hockey young player of the year.

ISLAH SLAMS AWARD

AFP ADDS: Former Pakistan great Islahuddin on Thursday slammed International Hockey Federation (FIH) for their criteria for picking the best player through votes from players. "I don't think its fair system to pick the best player.

There should be a panel of experts to pick or choose the player of the year" he told reporters after Jamie Dwyer of Australia was named player of the year for 2004 by FIH. Reacting sharply Islah said on the basis of his outstanding performance, Pakistan's Sohail Abbas should have got the best player award.