India were off to a disappointing start at the Lanco International Super Series hockey tournament. They squandered a one-goal lead and lost 1-2 to England in Perth on Thursday. Gurvinder Singh Chandi gave India the lead before England bounced back through goals from Daniel Fox and David Condon.
Roelant Oltmans, the Indian men's hockey team's chief coach, says the new competition format of having quarter-finals in place of direct semi-finals at the upcoming Rio Olympics is not only beneficial for the Men in Blue but all small teams too.
India go down to Germany 1-7 in Four-Nation junior hockey
The FIH has responded by introducing a number of changes to the way hockey will be played and broadcast at the Rio Games. Those include a move to 15-minute quarters and scheduling more time for television replays and analysis to showcase players' virtuoso skills with a ball moving at more than 160 kilometres an hour, Fairweather said. For the first time in Olympic competition, the Rio hockey tournament will also feature quarter-finals, making it the last team sport to adopt the format at the Games.
'A dream moment', said the country's sports fraternity in unison as it celebrated the resurgence of Indian hockey at the Tokyo Olympics after the women's team advanced to its first ever semi-final, in Tokyo, on Monday.
Hockey: India v Australia, QF
Raj Kumar Pal struck a hat-trick
The Spanish star thinks a shorter version of the tournament would do justice to players as well as the competition.
India will have revenge on mind but injuries remain a worry for the team as it takes on Belgium in the quarterfinal clash of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Melbourne on Thursday.
India had topped the five-team league standings with three wins and one draw
The Indian Men's Hockey Team Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh opened up on the team's preparations for the upcoming 100th Anniversary Spanish Hockey Federation - International Tournament and Hero Asian Champions Trophy.
Coach Harendra defends junior players' selection for World Cup
While India will play host to the men's tournament, Spain and the Netherlands have been named as the co-host of the 2022 Women's World Cup scheduled to be held from July 1 to 22.
A lacklustre India conceded three early goals as they were outplayed by New Zealand 3-6 in their opening match of Lanco International Super Series Hockey 9s tournament in Perth on Thursday.
"The Hockey India League made a big difference. It played an important role in the re-development of hockey in India," he said.
Despite two convincing wins on the trot, India will have to guard against complacency when they take on an unpredictable Malaysia in the quarterfinal of the Champions Challenge hockey tournament, in Johannesburg, on Thursday.
After New Zealand and Spain played out a 2-2 draw earlier in the day, World No. 20, the lowest ranked side in the competition, France needed an outright win to qualify for the cross-overs and they came out with intent to achieve the goal.
With an aim to make hockey faster and more viewer-friendly, Hockey Australia and infrastructure major LANCO Infratech Limited, on Tuesday, launched a new revolutionary nine-a-side tournament to be held in Perth from October 20 to 23.
Indian two-wheeler giant Hero MotoCorp Limited (HMCL) was on Monday named the title sponsor for the men's and women's hockey London Olympic qualification tournament, the first of which will be held in Delhi from February 18 to 26. The qualifiers, titled 'Hero FIH Road to London', will be played at the Major Dhyanchand Hockey National Stadium.
India's third-place finish at the Hockey World League Finals is a timely reminder of the improvement the team has made under Oltmans. But one must not get carried away.
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.
A large contingent of officials and media were present at the airport to receive the team, which finished fifth in the just-concluded Hockey World League Semi-finals in Antwerp.
Having achieved the goal of a podium finish at the recently-concluded Champions Trophy in London, the Indian men's hockey team chief coach Roelant Oltmans has now set his eyes on his next big target -- the Rio Olympics.
Hockey greats Vasudevan Baskaran, M M Somaya and Mervyn Fernandis relive India's gold medal-winning campaign at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.
Talismanic midfielder Sardar Singh will lead an experimental 18-member India hockey team, which will be without as many as seven players including senior goalkeeper and vice-captain P R Sreejesh, in the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia next month.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
The Asian Games normally serves as the Olympic qualifiers but there was some confusion after the Hangzhou Asian Games were postponed from last year to this year due to the COVID-19 situation in China.
To play Spain in crossover for QF berth
In cricket, we have something that we can share with our families, neighbours and indeed, the whole country. It is colour-blind, language-neutral, truly secular and transcends all regions, from Kashmir to Kerala and Mizoram to Maharashtra, explains Shreekant Sambrani.
Olympic bronze medallist Germany defeated Malaysia 5-3 in a keenly-contested match
'I was not able to watch that 19th over bowled by Arshdeep.' 'My son and daughter were watching the match and my eyes were closed.' 'When they used to shout 'Dot ball', I used to open my eyes, that is how I saw that Arshdeep over.'
'All the venues are high-scoring venues. So what you need is pace.' 'You really want someone to come there and control the flow of runs in the death overs, whether you are setting a target or setting a target.' 'It is going to be the fast bowlers because at how many venues have you seen spinners bowling the death overs?'
In hockey, the women's team continued its inspiring run with a silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
India disastrous campaign at Hero Hockey World League Final continued as they lost 1-3 to New Zealand to succumb to their second straight defeat in Pool A at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Saturday.
India's women's hockey team skipper Rani Ramphal says the team is now looking forward to the semi-finals.
Sophie Devine fell just one short of her century as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Gujarat Giants to clinch their second WPL win on the trot.
An important factor in India's stupendous success in 2021 was the way the government opened its coffers to support athletes.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
This past week, the Indian hockey team recorded a rare Test series win against world champions Australia. It was a significant achievement by the men in blue - hockey, not cricket - as it was for the first time in four years that India had beaten Australia.
Was it badminton sensation PV Sindhu, who became the first Indian to win the World Championships gold medal? Or is it the young shooting progidy Saurabh Chaudhary? Or his India colleague Elavenil Valarivan, who recently took over as World No 1? What about India's heroes on the cricketing field -- Virat Kohli? Rohit Sharma?
