ATLANTA DAY 8 -- FIELD HOCKEY;India and Pakistan Are Out of Medal Contention

Ananda Mahaderan watched with increasing frustration today as the field hockey teams from India and Pakistan careered up and down the field at Morris Brown College, with neither able to score.

"Six hundred million people are watching this game," said Mahaderan, who lives in the Indian state of Kerala. "What other Olympic sport will match that?"

Mahaderan and a group of about 150 Indian men, all wearing orange headbands, stood for the entire 70 minutes of the game cheering, alternately in English and Hindi: "India will win! India will win!"

But neither team won. The game finished in a scoreless draw.

With its second tie to go with only one victory and a loss, India was eliminated from the medal round. Pakistan, which fell to 1-2-1 in the Pool A standing, was also eliminated. Only the United States, which has never won an Olympic men's field hockey game, has a worse record at 0-4.

India and Pakistan, traditional powers in field hockey, have been supplanted by Europeans. From 1932 to 1968, India owned Olympic field hockey, sweeping all of the gold medals.

"But in the 1970's, the rules changed," said Mahaderan, a recent graduate of Auburn University. "It's more of a power game, and that favors the Europeans. But this is great hockey. These teams can run and play with real style. You won't see this much running in any of the other games."