NEW DELHI World champions Australia return to the scene of a memorable triumph to start firm favourites in the men's field hockey competition of the Commonwealth Games.
It was at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi in March that the Kookaburras, coached by Ric Charlesworth, won the World Cup after 24 years by beating defending champions Germany 2-1 in the final.
Charlesworth's all-conquering team then went on to clinch their third successive Champions Trophy title with a 4-0 rout of England in the German town of Moenchengladbach in August.
Australia are set to extend their stranglehold of field hockey, one of the truly world class events at the Commonwealth Games, which was introduced as a medal sport in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
The Aussie men have won all three competitions so far, while the women bagged two, with the Hockeyroos failing only once in Manchester in 2002 when they finished third behind champions India and England.
India's national coach Harendra Singh conceded Australia's flair and power-play will be hard to match in the 10-nation men's competition.
“They showed at the World Cup that they are the best team around, it is up to the rest of us to make sure they don't win easily,” Singh told AFP.
Charlesworth, however, refused to take victory for granted, insisting his world-beating team was still a work in progress.
“We have had some great results over the past 20 months or so, however I still believe we are not solid yet and still have much to do,” the renowned coach said.
“We will not get ahead of ourselves. We may be the number one ranked team in the world, but I think that can give teams a bit more incentive when they face us.”
Resurgent England are expected to be Australia's closest challengers, while floundering Asian rivals India and Pakistan look for a spark to revive memories of their past glory.
Coach Jason Lee's England finished a creditable fourth at the World Cup and then qualified for the title clash of the elite six-nation Champions Trophy in Germany.
India's men's and women's teams will play in their own Games only after the Supreme Court intervened in a dispute over who ran the sport in the country.
While the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has recognised Hockey India as the parent body, the sports ministry wanted the revived Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) to take charge again.
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court last month directed the Indian Olympic Association and Hockey India to select the two teams for the Games, pending a fuller verdict.
India, once the masters of field hockey with eight Olympic titles, failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and were eighth in the 12-nation World Cup on home soil.
Pakistan, now coached by Dutchman Michel van den Heuval, hope to make amends in front of Indian crowds after the former champions finished an embarrassing last in the World Cup.
India and Pakistan are drawn with Australia, Malaysia and Scotland in a tough group from which two teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
England head the other group which has New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago.
The women's competition promises an interesting tussle between England, a World Cup semi-finalist, and Australia, who surprisingly failed to reach the last four in the showpiece event in Argentina earlier this month. —AFP
