FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023: Harmanpreet Singh To Captain India – Check Full Squad, Fixtures, Venues
New Delhi: The Indian men’s hockey team will embark on fresh journey to win the coveted FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 when the hosts kick of their campaign on January 13 in Odisha. Bhubaneshwar and Rourkela will be hosting the mega event.
Interestingly, Bhubaneshwar was the host in the previous edition as well in 2018 where Belgium emerged champions beating Netherlands in the final at the Kalinga Stadium. A lot of water has flown in the past four years.
While there are some familiar faces in the squad from the last edition, the India team also had few changes. Australian Graham Reid is currently the head coach of the side while Harmanpreet Singh will be leading the senior Indian for the first time in a World Cup.
16 teams have been divided into four groups of each with the top sides from each group advancing to the quarterfinals directly. The second and third-best teams in each group will then play a cross-over round from where four teams will make it to the last eight.
Boss Man in the House.#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @Media_SAI @IndiaSports pic.twitter.com/JYqmKkzxL7
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) December 30, 2022
India are placed in Group D alongside England, Wales and Spain. India start their campaign against Spain on the opening day at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium. They play England at the same venue two days later.
Kalinga Stadium will play hosts to the India vs England match on January 19. The semifinals are on January 27 and the final is on January 29. India have won the World Cup once in 1975. They finished runners-up in 1973 and achieved a third-place finish in 1971.
India Squad For FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023
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