The Hockey World Cup will be held in the state of Odisha in 2023 for the second time in a row as part of India's hosting duties. The games will be held at the renowned Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the brand-new Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela. As India looks to win the trophy for the second time in history and end a 48-year trophy drought, all eyes will be on the hosts. The eight-time Olympic winners have only ever defeated Pakistan in the World Championship final in Kuala Lumpur in 1975 to claim the title.
__Want it? Push for it!#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #HWC2023 #StarsBecomeLegends @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI @FIH_Hockey pic.twitter.com/oJAnW9ldjU
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 9, 2023
Expectations are high for Team India after they took home a record bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics and followed it up with a silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. They are anticipated to put up a strong fight against the finest teams in the world at home and have a shot at winning the championship.
India was assigned to the competition's Group D, along with Wales, England, and Spain. India will play their opening two group-stage matches against Spain (January 13) and England at Rourkela (15th January). On January 19, they will play Wales in Bhubaneswar in their final league match. Starting on January 22, the knockout rounds will go until the final on January 29.
The Indian squad will be led by Harmanpreet Singh at the major competition. There are many seasoned athletes on the team, including goalie PR Sreejesh, who will participate in the competition for the fourth time in his career. The squad's head coach will be Graham Reid, who guided the Indian team to an Olympic silver in 2021.
January 13 - India vs Spain ( 7PM) - Rourkela
January 15 - India vs England (7PM) - Rourkela
January 19 - India vs Wales (7PM) - Bhuvneshwar
Fans in India can watch the tournament on Star Sports Network channels. The matches will also be live-streamed on the Disney+Hotstar app.
Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh
Defenders: Jarmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas (vice captain), Nilam Sanjeep Xess
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh
Alternate players: Rajkumar Pal, Jugraj Singh
Head coach: Graham Reid
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in india news and world News on Zee News.