Record setters

It has been another busy year for the top hockey players and after two World Cups records continues to be set. In the first of a two part series B.G Joshi from India provides a fascinating set of facts, figures and details you never knew about the game.

Most successful men’s captain
Stephan Veen of Netherlands (born 27 July 1970: caps:275 goals: 117) is the only captain to have won the Grand Slam under his captaincy i.e. World Cup (Utrecht 1998), Champions Trophy (Amsterdam2000) and Olympic Games (Sydney 2000). He also scored hat-trick in Sydney Olympic final. He won World Hockey player of the Year award twice (1998, 2000).

Most medals
Rechelle Hawkes of Australia (born: 30 May 1967, caps: 279, goals: 49) is the only triple Olympic gold medalist in women’s hockey. She won gold in 1988, 96 and 2000 Olympics. She is the only player in the history of hockey chosen to take the athletes’ oath at the opening ceremony. She won 5 Champions Trophy gold medals in a row (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999) and captained three times (1993, 1995, 1997).She also captained successive World Cups (1994, 1998). Overall 10 Grand Slams - a unique record in hockey.

Germany’s leading men
Heiner Dopp (caps: 286) won the Champions Trophy three times in a row 1986, 1987, 1988. Volker Fried (caps: 290) won the Champions Trophy and Olympics in 1992. Florian Kunz (caps: 225, goals: 78) won the Champions Trophy (2001) and World Cup (2002). Kunz won the WorldHockey Player of the Year award in 2001.

Green Shirt’s Double
Islahuddin (caps: 93, Goals: 37) and Shahbaz Ahmed (caps: 304, Goals: 98) won the hockey double for Pakistan. The Green Shirts won the Champions Trophy and World Cup both in 1978 and 1994 under captaincy of Islahuddin and Shahbaz respectively. Shahbaz voted player of the tournament in successive World Cups (1990 and 1994) and has been declared best player in 10 global tournaments.

Pakistan also won successive Olympic Games and World Cup titles. The sequence went Olympic Games (1968) - World Cup (1971) and then World Cup (1982)-Olympic Games (1984).

Hasan Sardar (caps: 148, Goals: 150) was the hero in Mumbai (1982) and Los Angeles (1984). Rashid Jr. (Caps: 111, Goals: 103) did the same in Mexico City (1968) and Barcelona (1971).

Manzoor Junior (caps: 175, goals: 86),G. Moinuddin-goalkeeper (caps:100), Rashid-ul-Hasan(caps 199, goals 9) and Kalimullah (caps 176, goals 97) have all won the quadruple crown - Junior World Cup (1979), Champions Trophy (1980), World Cup (1982) and Olympic Games (1984).

Seven Indians won three gold medals
Dhyan Chand and Richard Allen won gold in 1928, 32, 36 Olympic Games.

Balbir Singh Senior, R S Gentle, R Francis, L Claudius (1948, 52, 56) and Udham Singh (1952, 56, 64) also each won 3 gold medals.

Dhyan Chand (born: 29 August 1905, died: 3 December 1979) scored 37 goals in Olympic Games.

Balbir Singh (born: 10 October 1924) scored hat-tricks in the semifinal and final at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Most Goals
Men: Sohail Abbas (1998-2006) of Pakistan, born: 9 June 1977, scored 288 goals in 240 international matches. Sohail is the all time top scorer for Pakistan in all 3 FIH tournaments:

Women: Natella Krasnikova (1979-89) of Russia scored 220 goals in 173 internationals. She later joined Rot-Weiss club at Hurth (Germany).

Most Caps
Men: Jeroen Delmee (Holland 1994-2006) has played 351 international matches, won 2 Olympic Games, 1 World Cup and 6 Champions Trophy gold medals. Under his captaincy the Dutch triumphed in 3 Champions Trophies (2002, 03, 06).

Prior to this India’s Dhanraj Pillay (Dec 1989-Aug 2004) played 339 international matches. He is the only Indian to have played in four Olympics (1992, 96, 00, 04), four World Cups (1990, 94, 98, 02), four Champions Trophies (1995, 96, 02, 03) and four Asian Games (1990, 94, 98, 02). India won the Asian Games (1998) and Asia Cup (2003) under his captaincy - a record in Indian Hockey.

Women: Karen Brown (England March 1984- August 1999) played 355 international matches and has the most (5) appearances in the European Championship.

Most goals in a match
Men: Roop Singh of India (Born: 8 September 1908; Died: 16 December 1977), scored 10 vs USA in Los Angeles Olympics on 11 August 1932.

Women: Im Kye Sook of South Korea scored 11 vs Hong Kong in Seoul Asian Games on 23 September 1986.

Most goals in tournaments
Men: Jorge Lombi of Argentina scored 26 in New America Cup’04 at East London, Ontario, Canada.

Women: Im Kye Sook of South Korea scored 25 in Seoul Asian Games 1986.

Biggest Win
Men: Argentina beat Dominican Republic 30-0 on 2 August 2003 in Pan-Am Games at Santo Domingo. Dominican Republic registered its first international victory defeating Puerto Rico 1-0 in Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) in August 2006.

Women: Argentina beat Peru 26-0 on 23 March 2003 in Pan-Am qualifier in Santiago.

Longest Match
The longest match ever was played in the Mexico City Olympics on 25 October 1968 for 5th place match between Netherlands and Spain. The match lasted 145 minutes before Netherlands won by a goal scored by Kick Thole (33 caps, 7 goals) .Tie-breaker was introduced on 1 September 1970 .Substitution and tie-breaker rule came in for the  first time in Brussels European Nations Cup (1970).