‘India has a good chance to win Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023’
India’s Men’s Hockey Team heads into the World Cup in their homeland with raised expectations after having a 41-year-long wait for an Olympic medal after finishing on the podium in Tokyo. India didn’t celebrate any World Cup glory since winning it back in the year 1975, crashing out in the quarter-finals of the last edition.
HarmanPreet Singh, who has been given the responsibility of leading the Asian giants, will play in Rourkela and is hopeful that India can cover a distance and finish on the podium to end a 48-year-long wait for a medal in the Hockey World Cup. The crowd support in Rourkela is huge and expected to be strong as the tickets were sold out within minutes for all the 20 matches at the brand-new venue.
India should make good use of the home support and conditions even though they haven’t played a competitive match yet at the Bisra Munda Stadium, said Singh, while interacting with the press. “It is a good opportunity for us to win the World Cup as the home crowd will support us and that alone reason is advantageous. The World Cup is very important and it comes once every four years. So, you don’t know when you will play in the World Cup in India again. You have to avail the chances and try to win all the matches”, Harmanpreet added.
Emphasizing the pressure of leading the team for the first time in the senior World Cup, Harmanpreet said there is no pressure from his teammates and they are ready to offer him support whenever needed. “It is a team game and my teammates are always ready to support each other. We have four penalty corner takers”, he added.
‘INDIA HAS A CHANCE TO WIN THE HOCKEY WORLD CUP’
For this edition, there is a huge expectation from India and if they can cope with the enormous pressure that comes with the hope of people then this time the game is theirs. “If India can handle huge pressure and if the players don’t get too excited, then they have a good chance to win since they have good strikers and goalkeepers, they have a good chance to win the tournament.
If the Indian team keeps their focus, they are one of the biggest contenders along with Australia”, the former Netherlands hockey player Bram Lomans said.
The former Dutch penalty corner specialist also added that India has a strong pool of young drag flickers which will help the team at the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 in Odisha.
“The biggest strength of the current Indian team is that they have 4-5 really good penalty corner takers who can score. If they all can chip in, it will take the pressure off Harmanpreet Singh. The quality is high and I am honoured I can help them out. There are also some really good talents at the U-21 camp, who can come up in the future,” he signed off.
Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup 2023 Groups:
Pool A: – France, South Africa, Argentina, Australia
Pool B: – Belgium, Germany, Japan, Korea
Pool C: – Netherlands, New Zealand, Chile, and Malaysia
Pool D: – India, England, Wales, and Spain
The probable five teams that can clinch the Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup 2023 trophy are India
- Australia
- Netherlands
- Germany
- Belgium
In all, 16 teams —Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, England, France, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, South Korea and Wales — will be in the fray in this mega tournament.
These teams are divided into groups of four (four teams each) for the preliminary phase comprising a round-robin competition in the group. Ranked 5th in FIH World Rankings, India (Hockey team) is placed in Group D for the preliminary phase with England, Wales and Spain. The hosts opened their campaign against Spain on Friday, January 13th at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela.
The quarterfinals will be played on January 24th and January 25th , while the semifinals are scheduled on January 27th and with the final match on January 29th.
INDIA’S PERFORMANCE IN HOCKEY HISTORY
In the year 1928, India participated in the Olympic Games for the first time, where the hockey team started with Gold. After this, they continued to shine in the Olympics and continued to win gold in the next 5 Olympics which were held in the years 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, and 1956.
The Indian hockey team has been one of the most successful teams in the Olympic Games.
MOST GOALS FOR INDIA IN HOCKEY WORLD CUP HISTORY
- Rajendra Singh – 12 goals
- Surjeet Singh – 11 goals
- Surinder Singh Sodhi – 8 goals
- Akashdeep Singh – 7 goals
- Shivendra Singh – 7 goals
- Dhanraj Pillay – 7 goals
- BP Govinda – 5 goals
- Victor J Phillips – 5 goals
WILL THE INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM REMAKE HISTORY LIKE DHYAN CHAND
With three Olympic gold medals, Major Dhyan Chand was known to be the poster boy of Indian hockey for decades and his birthday 29th August is celebrated as National Sports Day in India. Not only this, Dhyan Chand is the greatest Indian field hockey player of all time for many hockey legends. He was the man who mesmerised everyone with his silky stick-work earning him the nickname hockey wizard.
India’s performance was lauded by many and Major Dhyan Chand, in particular, earned a lot of praise for his game on his first international assignment. Dhyan Chand’s quality and performance didn’t go unnoticed for long as he soon made it to the Indian hockey team for the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.
