Hockey
FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023: India drawn in Pool D with Wales, Spain, England
India is slated along with Wales, Spain and England in Pool D for the upcoming Hockey World 2023 in Bhuvneshwar and Rourkela.
The FIH Men's World Cup 2023 is scheduled from 13th-29th January 2023 in the cities of Bhuvneshwar and Rourkela in Odisha. A total of 16 teams from five confederations of FIH have qualified for the world cup.
The draw was held by Sports Odisha and it featured Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Acting FIH President Seif Ahmed, former Olympian Zafar Iqbal and Member of CoA Dr S.Y. Quraishi.
Here are the four pools featuring 16 teams in the Men's 2023 Hockey World Cup.
Pool A- Australia, South Africa, France, Argentina.
Pool B- Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Germany.
Pool C- Netherlands, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand.
Pool D- India, Wales, Spain, England.
India is drawn in Pool D with England, Spain and Wales. It will be a tricky road for the hosts given the recent emergence of Wales and Spain and England is one of the toughest rivals for India in recent times.
Group A will see the World number 1 Australia and Argentina clash in one of the fiercest rivalries along with France and South Africa.
Pool B has Olympic champions Belgium with two of the most improved Asian teams Japan and South Korea and a European powerhouse in Germany.
Pool C will feature the upcoming hockey nation Chile which has been on a rapid rise and Malaysia and New Zealand will pose some threat to the favourites the Netherlands.
The schedule for the World Cup will be released later this week.
The 15th edition of the FIH Hockey Men's World Cup will be staged in two cities Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, where the country's largest hockey stadium is being constructed. The new world-class stadium will have a seating capacity of 20,000.
