India will aim for their first podium finish in 48 years in the men's Hockey World Cup as they begin their campaign with a tricky match against Spain in Rourkela on Friday.
Vice-captain Sanjay scored a brilliant hat-trick but it was not enough as defending champions India were stunned by unfancied France in their opening Pool B match of the FIH Junior Hockey World Cup, in Bhubaneswar, on Wednesday.
The men's team last participated in an international competition in February last year when they played the FIH Hockey Pro League matches against Australia in Bhubaneswar.
Sudhanshu Mittal's allegations on the 'illegality' of Narinder Batra's election have come amid the feud among the top brass of the IOA. He had earlier written to the International Olympic Committee, claiming that Batra was 'illegally' elected as IOA president.
India beat Ukraine 3-0 in U-23 five-nation tournament
Rani Rampal led the team to historic victories in the Women's Asia Cup in 2017, silver at the 2018 Asian Games and played a critical role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019 by scoring the deciding goal that helped India qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
The 19-year-old won the accolade ahead of Argentina's Maico Casella and Blake Govers of Australia, who finished second and third respectively.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is planning to have India and Pakistan play their home and away matches in Europe if the arch-rivals face off in the Olympic qualifying tournament for a berth at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey said India can win a World Cup medal this time after a hiatus of 48 years but for that the home side needs to make use of penalty corners.
India's chief coach Graham Reid says his players ticked most of the boxes in the 2-0 victory over a tricky Spain in their FIH men's hockey World Cup opener in Rourkela on Friday.
Captain Harmanpret said it's a good opportunity for the Indian players to win the World Cup at home.
The Indian women's hockey team played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw against England in its opening match of the FIH World Cup in Amstelveen, The Netherlands, on Sunday.
India have won eight Olympic gold medals in the past, but their last top finish came way back in 1980 Moscow Games.
Skipper Rani Rampal has been rested for next month's Women's Asian Champions Trophy and in her absence vice-captain Savita will lead an 18-strong Indian hockey team.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
India will play South Africa in the ninth to 12th place match on Saturday.
'I feel so fortunate to be part of this incredible group and yes, I do believe I have been lucky to have had such a great start to my international career.'
The other teams in India's pool are Spain, New Zealand and hosts Japan. The Pool B is made up of Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Canada and South Africa in the groupings announced by world governing body FIH on Saturday.
While all her teammates left for home after the junior camp ended on March 19, Suman decided to stay back at the SAI centre in Bengaluru with the senior sides and was stuck there for more than two and half months because of the nationwide lockdown.
With exactly a year to go for the deferred Tokyo Olympics, India hockey captains Manpreet Singh and Rani Rampal are confident of a good showing at the Games.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation has threatened to pull out of next year's World Cup in India unless assured of "easy procurement" of visas and "top security" for its players at the event.
India suffered an embarrassing 0-7 drubbing at the hands of defending champions Australia to settle for a silver medal
A round-up of Sunday's action in the men's hockey World Cup, in Rourkela.
'I believe there will be some treatment (of coronavirus) by September or October this year. We (India) have to plan ourselves thinking that Olympics will be held.'
World champions Germany went one position up to replace Australia at the top
India dominated all throughout but their goal-scoring woes continued for the second match in a row.
Will ask England to probe India's fixing attempt charge: FIH The complaint was lodged with the FIH after Indian team manager Jugraj Singh asked HI to take up the matter seriously with the FIH in his post-tournament report.
Senior players like Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and PR Sreejesh will give the tournament a miss.
Rising political tension has adversely affected the bilateral sporting ties between India and Pakistan but newly-elected FIH chief Narinder Batra on Saturday said the two nations will have to honour their international commitments. The tension at the border has cast a shadow over Pakistan's participation in the next month's FIH Junior World Cup in Lucknow but Batra's comments make it clear that the two neighbours are set to clash against each other on Indian soil.
Olympic gold medallists The Netherlands defeated Australia 2-0 in the title showdown to clinch the women's hockey World Cup at the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague on Saturday.
'I play in the present without thinking about the buzz in the background,' says Vivek Sagar Prasad, who has just won the FIH Rising Star of the Year award.
The hosts piled pressure on India with their structured attack and earned two penalty corners in the 5th and 7th respectively, but the Indian defence stood tall to deny them from scoring the second goal.
Mittal, in a letter to the FIH, has alleged that "a major cover up" was done to allow Batra to contest the election for the top sports job of the country. Batra offered a rebuttal in a communication to Bach.
To play Spain in crossover for QF berth
A day after president Narinder Batra called for truce among the warring factions of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Secretary General Rajeev Mehta also spoke in the same vein wanting to end the acrimony which he feels is hurting Indian sports.
The Indians were undone by a horrendous stopwatch faux pas by technical officials in the shoot-out against Australia
The team management in London was told that Sardar should come to Leeds for questioning by the Yorkshire police.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is set to introduce drastic changes in the structure of global competitions with a new Global Hockey League (GHL) to be introduced in 2019 in place of the long-standing Champions Trophy, which will be scrapped.
The International Hockey Federation has confirmed India's withdrawal from its ambitious Pro League, one of FIH's flagship tournaments offering Olympic qualifying berths to the top four teams in both men's and women's events.
