India went down 2-5 to World champions Belgium in the semi-finals of the Olympics men's hockey tournament in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Dragflicker Sandeep Singh made a return, while injured striker Shivendra Singh and midfielder Arjun Halappa have been rested from a 22-member Indian hockey squad for a tour of Europe, starting next month.
The Koreans routed Malaysia in their last league match to finish third, a rung above the Germans.
Defending champions Germany face a stern test when they take on rampaging the Netherlands in a mouthwatering Pool A clash in the Hero Honda hockey World Cup in New Delhi on Sunday.
Coach V Bhaskaran said the camp will dwell on rectifying the mistakes the team committed at the just-concluded hockey World Cup.
The Indian men's hockey team has been offered a cash reward of Rs. 1 crore for winning the World Cup.\n
Germany beat Australia 1-0 in Pool A on Tuesday to reach the semi-finals of the women's hockey World Cup where they will meet hosts Argentina. New Zealand beat India 3-0 and avoided finishing bottom of the pool.
Olympic champions Germany will look to set aside security fears and focus on clinching their third straight world title when the men's hockey World Cup kicks off on Sunday.
Despite taking a two-goal lead, India persisted with their aggressive style, maintaining pressure on Canada. However, they were unable to find more goals in the opening quarter as it ended 2-0 in their favour.
The German was axed after the team slumped to fourth in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament.
The eight-time Olympic winners have been clubbed along with reigning champions Germany, Korea, New Zealand, Belgium and Netherlands in Pool B at 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Legendary Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans feels that although Indian hockey team has improved by "leaps and bounds", it needs to regularly play against powerhouses like Australia, Holland and Germany in order to become a force to reckon with.
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.
India lost to Germany 0-1 in their fourth outing of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament
Belgium stunned six-time champions and title holders Germany 4-3 in the shoot out to progress to their maiden final of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Lucknow on Friday.
The mercurial forward and Baljit Singh Dhillon are among nine players named for a pre-Olympic camp in Cologne from May 27 to June 21.
India has been named as one of five confirmed teams for the men's Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Melbourne later this year, thereby ending the nation's six-year wait for a comeback to the prestigious event.
India will seek to end 43 years of hurt when they begin the Hockey World Cup campaign against South Africa on Wednesday.
India's defence held its ground against desperate Great Britain as they clinched a 2-1 victory in the 36th Champions Trophy in London on Saturday. The victory puts India at the top of the league standings with four points. Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh stood his ground against a number of shots at the goal, four of them on penalty corners, as India made use of a breakaway opportunity created by right winger SV Sunil and their defenders covered the angles well to emerge victorious. Playing deep inside their own territory in the first quarter against early British raids, India scored through Mandeep Singh on their first raid by Sunil in the 17th minute.
The Germans scored twice in four minutes to snatch a 2-2 draw in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament.
Indian colts' victory was backed by a grand show of character to hold off pressure from the Dutch side, and the cynosure of India's defence was Rohit who was hard to breach -- he blocked away six successive penalty corners in the final quarter ensuring India emerge victorious. He was awarded player of the match for his efforts.
The Olympic hockey tournament will be a race for records in Athens as the Dutch men and Australian women strive to win their third gold medals in a row.
Six medals from a 117-strong contingent is not ideal but India had its moments of joy, hope, frustration, and heartache.
India rallied to hold the Germans 1-1 in their second match of the six-nation junior hockey tournament.
Ex-Indian hockey star Rajiv Mishra was found dead at his residence in Sarsauli area of Varanasi under mysterious circumstances.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
Three second-half goals gave the Indians their first victory in three matches in the Champions Trophy.
While the men's matches were deferred, the international governing body said that the women's matches between India and Germany will go on as planned this weekend at the Kalinga Stadium.
Joel Baker scored in the last minute of the match to help New Zealand shock World champions Germany 3-2 in the play-off and finish third in the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup hockey tournament in Chandigarh on Monday. The teams were locked 2-2 till the last minute when Baker scored to carve out a memorable victory for his team.
"We are very disappointed at the way the Azlan Shah Cup organisers have dropped us from the tournament and included England in our place," PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmad said on Thursday.
The Indian men's hockey team's biggest gain this year was the emergence of some talented fresh faces.
The World champions beat Malaysia for their third win in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament.
Joseph Galibardy, the oldest living hockey Olympian who donned India colours at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, passed away on May 17 in Walthamstow, England. He was 96. The funeral is on May 31, 12 noon, at Our Lady and St Georges Church, 132 Shernall Street, Walthamstow E17 9HU.
The Indian defenders had another good day in office as they didn't put a foot wrong to deny Italy any open chance.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
India will not field its senior team at the Games as it will be preparing for the World Cup.
Indian men's hockey team slipped one place to occupy sixth in the FIH rankings after their lackluster show in Rio Olympics while their female counterparts surprisingly gained one position to be at 12th in the latest charts released on Tuesday. The Indian men's side crashed out of the Olympics in the quarterfinals by losing to eventual runners-up team Belgium 1-3 while the women's team failed to get past the group stage.
Indian men's hockey team lost 0-1 to New Zealand to slump to its its second defeat in the six-nation Invitational tournament and will now face the formidable Argentina in its penultimate round-robin match, in Valencia, on Friday.
Olympic champions Germany clinched the Hero Champions Trophy title with a convincing 2-0 win over Pakistan in the summit clash, snapping their five-year old jinx in the elite eight-nation event at the packed Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
