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.
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.
Captain Harmanpret said it's a good opportunity for the Indian players to win the World Cup at home.
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.
'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.'
India will play South Africa in the ninth to 12th place match 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.
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.
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.
World champions Germany went one position up to replace Australia at the top
India suffered an embarrassing 0-7 drubbing at the hands of defending champions Australia to settle for a silver medal
'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.'
A round-up of Sunday's action in the men's hockey World Cup, in Rourkela.
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.
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.
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.
India dominated all throughout but their goal-scoring woes continued for the second match in a row.
Senior players like Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and PR Sreejesh will give the tournament a miss.
'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.
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 team management in London was told that Sardar should come to Leeds for questioning by the Yorkshire police.
To play Spain in crossover for QF berth
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 Indians were undone by a horrendous stopwatch faux pas by technical officials in the shoot-out against Australia
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.
The Indian captain led from the front and pulled off as many as six saves in the shootout
Indian defence let in a goal just three minutes from the final hooter when Marta Segu scored from a rebound
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
India's men's hockey team chief coach Graham Reid has told his players to keep their emotions in check and avoid cards against a strong opponent like Belgium in the Tokyo Olympics semi-finals on Tuesday.
Star drag-flicket Gurjit Kaur made it 4-0 by converting a penalty corner in the 10th minute.
The outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus has forced the Indian women's hockey team to cancel its tour of China, leaving the federation with the difficult task of finding an opponent to compete with as part of its preparation for the Olympics. The Indian women's team was scheduled to travel to China from March 14 to 25. However, due to the fast-spreading disease, that has killed over 636 people so far and infected more than 30,000 people, it has been cancelled.
Hockey India said it has drawn up a list of competitions both for the senior men and women's teams in the run-up to next year's Tokyo Olympics. The detailed plan involves playing a number of matches against top teams in the world.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Forward Shamsher Singh on Monday said winning the Olympic bronze medal was just ticking off one box in the new beginning for the Indian men's hockey team, which aspires to be the world number one side.
Narinder Batra on Saturday became the first Indian to be elected the President of the International Hockey Federation after he was voted to the top post by an overwhelming margin during the penultimate day of the 45th FIH Congress in Dubai. Batra, who is the president of Hockey India, defeated David Balbirnie of Ireland and Australia's Ken Read to become the 12th FIH President -- the first Asian to grab the post.
The Indian men's hockey team brought glory to the country when they ended a 41-year Olympic medal drought after defeating Germany 5-4 at the Tokyo Olympics to win the bronze medal in August.
Savita, who was part of the Rio squad, believes the team is much improved now, evident from its recent performances against top sides.
