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Indian Hockey Team
India women's hockey team chief coach Sjoerd Marijne is banking on a mix of overseas tours, competitive exposure and national camps to ready the side for the World Cup and Asian games this year. The World Cup is scheduled to be held in Belgium and Netherlands in August, while the Asian Games will take place in Japan in September. The Indian women's team will compete in the FIH Hockey Nations Cup in Auckland from June 15 to 21. They are also scheduled to tour the United States and Argentina, and play matches against Germany and the Netherlands. "We have a tour to USA and Argentina, the Nations Cup in New Zealand, and practice matches in Germany. We will also play some matches in the Netherlands," Marijne said in media release. "These scheduled games combined with our camps set us up for a very good mix of matches and training to be ready for the World Cup and Asian Games." India have been placed in Pool D alongside England, China and South Africa. China are the top-ranked side in
The Indian men's team has been drawn alongside arch-rivals Pakistan, strong contenders England and Wales in the group stage of the FIH Hockey World Cup to be co-hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium later this year. During the draw ceremony held here on Tuesday at the iconic Wagener Stadium in Amsterdam, the Indian women's team was placed alongside China, England and South Africa in the prestigious tournament, scheduled to be held from August 15 to 30. Both the Indian men's and women's teams, placed in Pool D in their respective categories, will play their matches in the Netherlands, according to the International Hockey Federation (FIH), which added that the full match schedule will be announced on Wednesday. Germany, the reigning men's champions who clinched their third World Cup title in 2023 in Bhubaneswar by defeating Belgium, have been placed in Pool B alongside Belgium, France and Malaysia. "The draw was done by hockey legends Naomie van As, Barbara Neelen and Teun de Nooije
Mid-fielder Hardik Singh was on Tuesday named captain of the embattled Indian men's hockey team for its FIH Pro League matches in Hobart from February 20 to 25 after regular skipper Harmanpreet Singh was left out "due to personal reasons." The upcoming leg of the tournament will feature India alongside Spain and hosts Australia at the Tasmania Hockey Centre in Hobart. The side lost all its four matches in the just-concluded Rourkela leg, which included a shocking 0-8 drubbing at the hands of Argentina. "After a disappointing four matches in Rourkela, where the results didn't go our way, we've learned some good lessons and made some notable improvements," India coach Craig Fulton said. New captain Hardik is a two-time Olympic bronze-medallist. The team will also feature youngsters including Amandeep Lakra and Manmeet Singh, who made their debut appearances for the senior team during the Rourkela leg. "Harmanpreet Singh will not be part of the squad due to personal reasons," Hockey
Inconsistencies continued to plague India as they slumped to a 0-8 defeat against Argentina, with Tomas Domene netting four goals in the Rourkela leg of the FIH Men's Pro League here on Thursday. Domene (15', 20', 26', 60') led the charge with his multiple strikes, while Tomas Ruiz (14'), Lucio Mendez (22'), Ignacio Ibarra (25') and Nicolas Della Torre (30') also found the net as the visitors completely overpowered a lacklustre Indian side at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. India started on the front foot, attempting to make early inroads, but after a brief spell of dominance, they squandered a golden opportunity to take the lead towards the closing stages of the first quarter when they were awarded a penalty stroke. Harmanpreet Singh was denied from the spot by the Argentine goalkeeper. Argentina scored almost instantly with Ruiz (14') powering his tomahawk into the back of the net to give his side the lead. The visitors quickly doubled their advantage as Domene (15') managed to .
India let in two goals in the final quarter to suffer a 1-3 defeat to Belgium in their Rourkela leg of the FIH Men's Pro League 202526 match here on Wednesday. Nelson Onana (23rd minute), Thomas Crols (53rd) and Arno Van Dessel (57th) scored for Belgium while Shilanand Lakra (29th) was the goal-scorer for India. The two sides were locked 1-1 at the half time as well as at the end of the third quarter, before Belgium pumped in two goals in the final 15 minutes. It was an extremely competitive first quarter with both sides hardly making any mistakes at the back. Belgium earned an early penalty corner in the 4th minute. However, Alexander Hendrickx's drag-flick was stopped heroically by India's first rusher Vivek Sagar Prasad. Four minutes later, India too got their first penalty corner but the home side couldn't capitalise on the occasion. While Belgium were having more possession, India did well to hold their ground and launch quick counter-attacks in search of goal-scoring ...