Hosts India beat defending champions Netherlands 3-2 in a penalty shootout to win the bronze at the Hockey World League Final in Raipur.
With less than 10 days to go for their opening match in the FIH Champions Trophy in London, Indian men's hockey team chief coach Roelant Oltmans said he is eyeing a top three finish in the high-profile tournament. Oltmans believes if things go according to plans, the team will stand a good chance to win a medal in the Champions Trophy. "Everybody knows we are good in the knockout stage. But Champions Trophy this year will be slightly different and we need to finish top two to play the final and be top four to play for bronze. "It will be interesting to see how our players will cope to this situation and face the challenge. Our realistic expectation is to finish in the top three," he said about his expectations from the event.
Sreejesh to lead India as team will experiment with different combinations and execute new tactics
It was a complete performance by the Indians who dominated their arch-rivals throughout the match to post a facile win and zoom to the top of Pool B ahead of The Netherlands.
Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh starred in front of the goal to help India beat South Korea via the penalty shootout to enter the final of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament, in Kuantan, Malaysia on Saturday.
Sachin Tendulkar inspired me to make comeback after CWG snub, says Sardar
In a surprise move on Tuesday, India's women's hockey coach Harendra Singh was named chief coach of the men's team while incumbent men's in-charge Sjoerd Marijne was sent back to the women's camp -- a fallout of the poor show by Manpreet Singh and Co. in the Commonwealth Games.
Overall, the record stands 1-1 between the two sides as Pakistan had the last laugh in the 2006 Games in Melbourne.
Simon Orchard and Satbir Singh scored a field goal each as Jaypee Punjab Warriors registered a thumping 4-1 victory over Kalinga Lancers to climb to the second position in the Hockey India League, in Bhubaneshwar, on Sunday.
The Indian team are in Pool B along with Pakistan, Malaysia, Wales, England, and will begin their campaign on April 7 against Pakistan.
India hockey coach Paul van Ass said inability to handle fast-paced attack resulted in his side's capitulation against World champions Australia in the FIH World League semi-finals in Antwerp.
From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to eminent sports personalities, the country was wholesome in its praise for the Indian hockey team's gutsy effort.
India were dominated and outplayed by The Netherlands 3-1 in the last game of Pool B match of the Hockey World League Semi-final in London on Tuesday.
Goalkeeper P R Sreejesh's magnificent effort went in vain as Olympic champions Germany beat hosts India 1-0 in their opening Pool B match of the Hero Champions Trophy.
'The silver medal at the Champions Trophy has instilled the confidence that we can match or even beat some of the best teams in the world.'
India once again paid the price of some sloppy defending and conceded a late goal to lose 2-3 to lower-ranked Malaysia and crash out of the title race of the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh.
Defender Harmanpreet Singh converted two penalty corners as India stamped their authority over New Zealand with an assertive 3-0 victory in the 26th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh, on Sunday.
Already assured of a place in the Rio Olympics, Asian Games champions India will start their preparations for the mega-event with the 24th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament where they would face Korea in their opening match in Ipoh on Sunday.
Bollywood star Salman Khan's appointment as the Indian Olympic contingent's goodwill ambassador has not gone down well with star wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, who feels a sportsperson should have been chosen for the role. Salman, who is playing the role of a wrestler in his upcoming film 'Sultan', was named goodwill ambassador by the Indian Olympic Association on Saturday in the presence of star woman boxer M C Mary Kom, hockey captain Sardar Singh, and shooter Apurvi Chandela among others. Yogeshwar, the London Olympics bronze-medallist, said he cannot understand what purpose such an appointment will serve for the athletes. "Everybody has the right to promote movies in India, but Olympics is not a place to promote films." Yogeshwar tweeted in Hindi. "Can anyone tell me what the role of goodwill ambassador is? Why are you fooling the public?" he added.
Failing to sustain an aggressive start, the Indian men's hockey team went down to Spain 1-4 in its third match of the ongoing Europe Tour in Sant Cugat del Valles.
The Indian hockey team's stand-in captain and goalkeeper P R Sreejesh says the Champions Trophy in England and the following six-nation hockey tournament in Spain will give his side the opportunity to test players' mental strength ahead of the Rio Olympic Games.
It was touted as the year which could herald a change in the fortunes Indian hockey, but 2018 turned out to be yet another saga of missed opportunities for the sport.
Brushing aside the disappointing show against Argentina in the tournament opener, hosts India produced a much-improved performance as they held Olympic champions Germany to a 1-1 draw in their second Pool B match of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final.
Infuriated over Khel Ratna snub Paralympian Deepa Malik gets Haryana CM backing 'And I am not lobbying for it. Lobbying is when you try to influence people before the committee sits and decide. When I found my name is not there, I wrote to the ministry, it's an appeal. I have got the backing of my state CM. Haryana is a sports conscious state. He (CM) also felt that I have been overlooked'
India is sending a 800-plus contingent, including 572 athletes, to the Asian Games, to be held from August 18 to September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.
Leaking late goals has been something of an Achilles' heel for the Indian hockey team but captain Sardar Singh believes his team have addressed the issue as they head to Rio looking for the country's first Olympic medal in 36 years. Once-mighty India are the most decorated nation in the sport's Olympic history but the South Asians collected the last of their eight gold medals way back at the Moscow Games in 1980. Having failed to qualify for the Beijing Games in 2008, the team representing a nation of 1.3 billion people did recover to seal a spot at the London Games four years later only to finish last among the 12 countries taking part.
India wasted a golden opportunity to break their 32-year-old medal jinx in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament after going down to Australia 1-2 in a hard-fought bronze medal play-off match of the eight-nation meet in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
Asian champions India have never won the Champions Trophy in its last 36 editions but will be hoping to claim the feat in the tournament's last edition.
Striker Gurwinder Singh Chandi failed to make the cut as Hockey India announced an 18-member squad, led by Sadar Singh, for the eight-nation Hero men's Champions Trophy, in Bhubaneswar, from December 6-14. Lalit Upadhyay, who was capped nine times earlier, has been drafted in place of Chandi in the squad, named by Hockey India selectors after trials at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi on November 18.
Delhi Waveriders showed no mercy on the Kalinga Lancers as they inflicted a humiliating 5-0 defeat on the Odisha-based side in match seven of the Hero Hockey India League (HHIL) in New Delhi.
Australia's Jason Wilson scored a brace as last year's runners-up Delhi Waveriders defeated hosts Punjab Warriors 3-1 in the opening contest of the second edition of the Hero Hockey India League in Mohali.
Having squandered the early lead provided by a penalty corner conversion from Rupinderpal Singh, India were trailing when Mandeep got into his goal-scoring act in the second half. Having squandered the early lead provided by a penalty corner conversion from Rupinderpal Singh, India were trailing when Mandeep got into his goal-scoring act in the second half.
'An India-Pakistan hockey match still attracts a lot of excitement, but the pressure thing is gone nowadays' 'We rallied after conceding an early goal and took the lead, but could not win due to a very high level of performance by India'
Penalty corner specialist Rupinder Pal Singh slammed six goals as India launched their campaign in the fourth Asian Champions Trophy with a rousing 10-2 victory over Japan in the Kuantan Hockey Stadium, in Malaysia, on Thursday.
Indian men's hockey team on Sunday officially qualified for the Rabobank Hockey World Cup in The Hague (NED), according to the latest release issued by the FIH.
In the FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final 2012-13, the Indian team outplayed the European team by 6-2 in which young Mandeep Singh scored two back-to-back goals. In the second season of FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final, India again met France in the semi-final round in Belgium and defeated them 3-2.
Indian men's hockey team fired in a goal two minutes from the final hooter through Ramandeep Singh to pull off a 3-2 win over France and begin their FIH World League semi-finals campaign on a winning note in Antwerp.
'The level we played in Champions Trophy will not be enough for the Olympics if we are vying for a medal'
Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a Swachh Bharat, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar picked a broom, spade and mattock and cleared garbage in a filthy locality in Mumbai recently.
The Indian Olympic Association has been fined $10,000 for withdrawing teams from the Asian Games at a late stage, but All India Tennis Association chief Anil Khanna is hopeful that the penalty would be withdrawn.