Hyderabad: Hockey, the sport in which India has a rich legacy, is considered to be among the world's premier sports. The sport was introduced at the Olympic Games as a men's competition from the 1908 edition of the global event in London. However, the discipline was then removed from the 1924 Summer Games in Paris due to the lack of an international sporting structure. The omission of the sport led to the formation of the International Hockey Federation (FIH, Fédération Internationale de Hockey) in the capital city of France and Men's field hockey became a permanent feature at the next Olympic Games, the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.
The game of hockey was introduced to India by the British and was initially used as a way to build strength and stamina for the Indian army. The Indian Hockey Federation became a member of the FIH in 1927, and the Indian hockey team made their first appearance in the Olympics during the 1928 Summer Games. This marked the beginning of a legacy that includes eight gold medals, a record that stands to this day. On the other hand, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to approve women's hockey as an Olympic event in July 1992. The discipline was then added to the carnival of sports.
India is the most successful team in this discipline in Olympic history, clinching 12 medals, including eight gold, one silver, and three bronze. The last medal came in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was played in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic when India defeated Germany 5-4 in the bronze medal match. The women's team lost in the bronze medal match against Great Britain by 3-4. However, they faltered to qualify for the upcoming summer games after an early exit in the Hockey Qualifiers held earlier this year. Let's delve deep into India's journey and recent performance in men's field hockey.
Recent Performance
The Indian men's hockey team qualified for the Paris Games with a top podium finish in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. Harmanpreet Singh-led side then featured in FIH Pro League 2023-24 and performed well in the first two legs played in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, securing the third spot in the points table with 15 points from eight games. In the next eight games, India managed to collect only nine points failing to maintain their winning spree and finished seventh after the conclusion of the FIH Pro League 2023-24.
Later, India's men's hockey team faced a clean sweep against Australia in a five-match test series and the series indicated India’s struggle against elite teams. India, fourth in the FIH rankings, are in Pool B in the men’s hockey tournament in Paris 2024 with reigning Olympic champions Belgium (world No. 2), Australia (world No. 5), Argentina (world No. 7), New Zealand (world No. 10) and Ireland (world No. 12). Team India will face a formidable challenge from Australia and Belgium in the Group stage because they have struggled against both sides in recent times.
Indian Hockey’s golden era
India's run from their Olympics debut in 1928 to the 1956 Summer Games was the golden era for Indian hockey, registering a double hat-trick. Notably, India clinched gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936 under British rule while they secured a second hat-trick of Olympic gold medals in 1948, 1952, and 1956 as an independent nation. Pakistan halted the gold run in the final at the 1960 Rome Olympics but India would ascend to the top spot at the podium yet again at Tokyo 1964 beating Pakistan. Men in Blue also won the gold medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Apart from the gold medals, India settled for Silver in the 1960 Rome Olympics and managed a bronze at Mexico in 1968, in what was then their lowest finish in the Olympics.
After 1980, India's men's hockey team failed to win a medal for the country at the Olympics until the Harmanpreet Singh-led side went against the odds and ended the medal drought in the discipline by securing a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
One reason considered by many behind the dominance of European teams like Belgium and Germany is the change of the surface from grass fields to astro turfs. The game witnessed a change in pace and the sport is played at a much quicker rate nowadays. The lack of pace required to excel on synthetic turfs hampered the Indian team as they focused more on skill rather than speed.
Basics of Sport
1. In hockey, two teams feature in one match and each side has 11 players, including 10 field players and one goalkeeper. There are five substitutes on the bench and there is no limit on substitutions. The objective of the sport is to score more goals than the opposite team before the stipulated time runs out.
2. The total duration of a field hockey match is 60 minutes (four quarters of 15 minutes each). The clock stops whenever the ball is called ‘dead’ by the umpires due to stoppages like injuries, lost ball or anything that is not in the flow of a game.
3. Players are only allowed to use the flat side of the stick to touch the ball. Failure to do so leads to a foul (backstick) and the ball is given to the opposition.
4. Goals can only be scored from inside the striking circle and any ball that goes in the goal from outside the circle (Dee) is not counted.
5. The circle also comes into play during penalty corners and is awarded when the opposition commits a foul in the striking circle but not always to thwart a possible goalscoring opportunity. If an offence takes place outside the striking circle but within the 23m area, the umpire can still award a penalty corner should the offence be severe.
6. The most common cause for a penalty corner is the ball touching a player’s feet in the circle. A foul is considered even if the ball touches a player’s feet during the gameplay.
