oppn parties Hockey World Cup Begins Today

News Snippets

  • Sikh extremists attacked a cinema hall in London that was playing Kangana Ranaut's controversial film 'Emergency'
  • A Delhi court directed the investigating agencies to senstize officers to collect nail clippings, fingernail scrappings or finger swab in order to get DNA profile as direct evidence of sexual attack is often not present and might result in an offender going scot free
  • Uniform Civil Code rules cleared by state cabinet, likely to be implemented in the next 10 days
  • Supreme Court reiterates that there is no point in arresting the accused after the chargesheet has been filed and the investigation is complete
  • Kolkata court sentences Sanjoy Roy, the sole accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case, to life term. West Bengal government and CBI to appeal in HC for the death penalty
  • Supreme Court stays criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against home minister Amit Shah in Jharkhand during the AICC plenary session
  • Government reviews import basket to align it with the policies of the Trump administration
  • NCLT orders liquidation of GoAir airlines
  • Archery - Indian archers bagged 2 silver in Nimes Archery tournament in France
  • Stocks make impressive gain on Monday - Sensex adds 454 points to 77073 and Nifty 141 points to 23344
  • D Gukesh draws with Fabiano Caruana in the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands
  • Women's U-19 T20 WC - In a stunning game, debutants Nigeria beat New Zealand by 2 runs
  • Rohit Sharma to play under Ajinkye Rahane in Mumbai's Ranji match against J&K
  • Virat Kohli to play in Delhi's last group Ranji trophy match against Saurashtra. This will be his first Ranji match in 12 years
  • The toll in the Rajouri mystery illness case rose to 17 even as the Centre sent a team to study the situation
Calling the case not 'rarest of rare', a court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjay Roy, the only accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case to life in prison until death
oppn parties
Hockey World Cup Begins Today

By Slogger
First publised on 2023-01-13 06:24:11

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.

The FIH World Cup hockey tournament begins in Odisha today. The first match will be played between India and Spain at the newly-constructed, state-of-the-art Birsa Munda stadium in Rourkela. A total of 16 nations are taking part in the tournament. Apart from India and Spain, England, Wales, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Argentina, Chile, France, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand and South Africa have made the cut. Belgium are the defending champions. The 16 teams are divided in 4 groups and the top two teams will make the quarter-finals. India is placed in Group D with Spain, England and Wales.

India has prepared well and has been upbeat in several matches leading to the World Cup. But it has not fared well in the Cup with a win in 1975 being the best. After that, it has twice got the fifth place. That and the fact that teams like Australia, New Zealand, England, Germany, Netherlands and Argentina have frequently got the better of India, makes it a tough tournament for the hosts. Although India finished on the podium in Tokyo Olympics, the World Cup is a different ball game. But India's performance in the 2021-22 Pro League (it finished third with 8 wins and 30 points from 16 matches and they scored 62 goals, the highest by a team in the tournament) was excellent and gives it hope. 

Graham Reid, coach of Team India, is banking on youth. Captain Harmanpreet Singh, in good form in recent matches, said that the team has improved a lot under Reid and will spring a surprise or two if it plays to potential. But so have other teams. India's penalty corner woes continue to take the team back and the defence has also become weak after the retirement of drag-flickers Birendra Lakra and Rupinderpal Singh. India's game plan and talent will be put to a tough test in the first match itself when they face a resurgent Spain who will be hungry for a podium finish after not achieving much in recent times. They have built a new team under former Dutch coach Max Caldus.

Overall, this is going to be an exciting tournament and a treat for hockey lovers. Odisha has lined up a host of Indian and international performers including K-pop band Blackswan (which has Odisha girl Shreya Lanka) and Ranveer Singh and Disha Patni for the opening ceremony. Music composer Pritam who composed the Hockey Hai Dil Mera, the official Hockey World Cup 2023 anthem, will also perform live with the 11 singers who sang the song.