The 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup is set to kick off on January 13 in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. A total of 16 teams will be participating in the competition which will be hosted by India for the second consecutive year — 2018 and then 2023.
At the same time, the Indian hockey team will be hoping to win the Hockey World Cup title for the first time since 1975. A victory at home will make this achievement even sweeter. Here, we take a close look at how the Indian hockey side fared in the last edition of the Hockey World Cup in 2018.
Group stage toppers
In the year 2018, the Hockey World Cup was played at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. In this tournament, the Indian team raised hopes of winning the title after competing with strong teams like Belgium in the group stage but were unable to succeed in their efforts.
Talking about the group stage games which involved the side, India beat South Africa 5-0 in their first match. After this, in the second match, Canada was also defeated at home by a margin of 5-1. Their final game ended in a show of strength with a 2-2 draw against Belgium, which is considered to be the strongest.
India lost in the quarterfinals
After topping the group stage of the competition, India faced a strong Netherlands side in the quarterfinals. In this all-important match, the Indian hockey team took the lead after scoring the first goal, but could not maintain their momentum till the last minute, facing a 1-2 defeat in the match. In doing so, the Indian hockey team's journey in this tournament ended in the quarterfinal stages,
Belgium finish as champion
The Netherlands team that defeated India also made it to the finals. However, they missed out on winning the title. Not a single goal was scored in the final match between Belgium and the Netherlands, and in the penalty shootouts, the Belgian team won the Hockey World Cup 2018 title for the first time after defeating the Netherlands 3-2. In this way, while the Netherlands won the silver medal, Australia had to settle for the bronze medal. While Belgium won the gold medal along with the title.
