- Bhubaneswar is the only city in the country to host the World Cup for the second time after 2018.
- India last won a gold medal in 1975 under the captaincy of Ajitpal Singh.
- India is in the group with strong teams like England and Spain.
- India have a good track flickr in the form of Harman Preet. The team has a lot of faith in him.
- Australia has also been included among the best performing teams in the last twenty years.
- In the last five years, no other team has produced a better performance than Belgium.
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Can Indian team win the title?
The 15th World Cup of Hockey is scheduled to be held in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar in Odisha from January 13 to 29.
For this World Cup matches, a stadium has been specially built in Rourkela named after tribal revolutionary Birsa Munda.
The opening ceremony will be held at the Barapati Stadium in Cuttack on January 11, two days before the start of the World Cup.
It features Bollywood stars Ranbir Singh, Disha Patani, music composer Pritam, singer Neeti Mohan, singer Benny Dayal along with Blackson dance team.
Bhubaneswar is the only city in the country to host the World Cup for the second time. The 2018 World Cup was also held here.
Earlier India had organized World Cup matches in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bhubaneswar. But India could not get on the podium.
But India is confident that the 47-year medal drought will end this time.
India’s last win in 1975
India last won a gold medal in 1975 under the captaincy of Ajitpal Singh. After that the Indian team could not reach the podium.
Earlier, India won the bronze medal in 1971 World Cup and silver medal in 1973. India has won only 3 medals in the World Cup so far. But this time one more medal is expected to be added to it.
The participating teams are divided into four groups of four teams each. India has been placed in Group D along with Spain, Wales and England. Australia, Argentina, France and South Africa have been placed in Group A. Former champions Belgium, Germany, South Korea and Japan are in Group B, while Netherlands, New Zealand, Malaysia and Chile are in Group C.
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Ajit Pal Singh
India’s path is tough
All India’s group matches will be played in Rourkela. India will play their first match against Spain on January 13. After that, India will play England on January 15 and Wales on January 19.
According to the rules of this World Cup tournament, the top teams in the group will directly advance to the quarter finals. The second and third placed teams in the group will play cross-over matches and advance to the quarterfinals.
It will not be easy to top the group as India has strong teams like England and Spain in the group. India need to win all the group matches to finish top.
There is not much difference in the rankings of the top three teams in the group. India was ranked fifth till some time ago.
But now the England team has reached that place. India has slipped to the sixth position. Spain is eighth and Wales is 15th.
India are sure to benefit from the crowd support when playing at home. Hockey matches will be held in front of spectators after a long time.
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Indian Hockey Team with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
All tickets for the first match against Spain are sold out. This will tell you how the audience is going to support the Indian team.
Spain captain Alvaro Iglesias is well aware of the atmosphere during the match.
On reaching Rourkela, he said, “We know the Rourkela ground is big and there will be a lot of spectators. There will be a lot of noise during the match and our players will struggle to speak during the match. Not only that, it will be difficult to hear the umpire’s instructions.”
“The real problem is that over the last few years, teams have lost the habit of playing in front of spectators. A team that adapts to this environment quickly will benefit.”
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Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur during the cup tour
Apart from Spain, England will not be easy to deal with. The memories of the rivalry between the two teams at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games are still fresh.
The Indian team was leading 4-1 at one point in the match between the two countries. It seemed that India would win easily. But the England team drew the match 4-4.
Talking about India’s performance against Spain, in this year’s FIH Pro League, India lost one match against Spain and won the other in a penalty shoot-out.
Actually both the teams are equal in strength. But the team that plays well on a particular day will turn the match in its favour. Wales, the fourth team in India’s group, also have the potential to produce unexpected results.
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British player Jack Wallace tries to stop the ball from the opponent
Best practice in India
The Indian team, led by penalty corner specialist Harman Preet Singh, toured Australia, the world’s number one team, at the end of last year.
In this tour, the Indian team got one win in the 5-match series. It was India’s first win against Australia in six years. This is important.
The tour helped the Indian team regain the confidence they lost in the 7-0 loss to Australia in the final of the Commonwealth Games.
Apart from this, the Indian players proved that they have the ability to score goals as well, scoring 17 goals in five matches.
India have a good track-flicker in the form of Harman Preet. But there is no other player in the team to support him.
The team consists of Amit Rohitas and Varun Kumar. But neither is as adept at converting penalty corners into goals.
To maintain the fitness of players in the current era, players are often sent in and out. Because of this it is necessary to have a track flicker on the field at all times.
To overcome this deficiency, coach Graeme Reid invited 1990s Netherlands penalty corner specialist Bram Lomans to a training camp at the Sai Center in Bengaluru in December to teach him the tricks. Its benefits are definitely visible.
Similarly, there is no replacement for Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh. Even though Krishna Bahadur Song has a lot of experience, he seems to make many mistakes in defence. So Dennis Van de Paul has taught the tricks for this.
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Spain’s Alejandro Alonso tries to control the ball
Belgium’s strongest challenger
If we talk about the last five years, no other team has done better than Belgium. During this time, the team not only won gold at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2018 World Championships, but also won the 2019 European Championship title.
So the team is considered a strong contender to win the title once again. Belgium is actually a very balanced team. It has the ability to tear any team apart with its attacking play.
The other teams in this group are Germany, South Korea and Japan. Belgium will only face a somewhat stronger challenge from Germany to top the group.
Apart from losing to Argentina in the final of the 2016 Rio Olympics, the team has not been able to put up any strong performances in recent times. Teams from Korea and Japan are also capable of springing surprises.
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Harmin Preet Singh takes the ball away from the opponent
Australia is second to none
If we have to talk about the best team in the last twenty years, it is Australia. It has always been among the top four teams in the World Cup for the last twenty years. During this time it has won all major titles like Olympics, World Cup, FIH Pro League, Commonwealth Games.
It had to settle for a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, losing to Belgium in the final.
Australia’s Group A includes 2016 Olympic champions Argentina, France and South Africa.
The way Australia are playing at the moment, none of these teams seem capable of stopping them.
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Australian players celebrate scoring a goal against India in Adelaide
But all three teams believe in playing fast hockey. So those teams can perform the unexpected. However, Australian captain Okendein expressed confidence that we will win the title this time.
The Netherlands have played in the finals of the last two World Cups but failed to lift the trophy.
They lost to Belgium in a penalty shootout in the final last time. But this time it is hoping to win a fourth title.
Over the past few years, the Netherlands have fielded a squad with a youth force. But it has been 25 years since the team last won the World Cup.
This is a talented team. But it is a bit difficult to say whether gold can be captured.
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