Hockey World Cup 2023 : India vs Spain Match will Start at 7 PM Today in Rourkela, Know About Players

Arpa Times January 13, 2023

Hockey World Cup 2023 : In the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023, the bang matches are starting from today January 13. On the first day, Harmanpreet-led team India will also take the field, where it will face Spain. The Indian team is considered to be a strong contender for the title this time. Anyway, Men in Blue have not won any medal in this tournament for 48 years, so Indian fans have high hopes from their team. The match between India and Spain will start at 7 pm at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela.

Hockey World Cup 2023 : Last Time we Lost

The Indian team, which won eight gold medals in the Olympics, won the only World Cup in the year 1975 under the captaincy of Ajitpal Singh. Since then the team could not even reach the semi-finals. Earlier in the first World Cup in 1971, India had won bronze and silver in 1973. After this, from 1978 to 2014, India could not go beyond the group stage. Last time too, in the World Cup held in Bhubaneswar, India was eliminated after losing to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

The Indian team, captained by Harmanpreet Singh, is one of the strong medal contenders on its own soil this time. India, ranked sixth in the world rankings, recently performed well in the five-match series against Australia. Although he had to face defeat by 1-4. Graham Reid’s team defeated a strong team like Australia in a match and won against them after six years. India also secured the third position in the FIH Pro League in the 2021-22 season.

Best Drag-Flicker Harmanpreet

The world’s best drag-flicker is here in the form of India’s captain Harmanpreet Singh. Apart from them, experienced goalkeepers PR Sreejesh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh and Mandeep Singh will be responsible for success. Defender Amit Rohidas is also very experience and is also a penalty corner specialist. Everyone’s eyes will also be on forward Akashdeep Singh.

Hockey World Cup 2023 : Chance to Reach Quarter Finals

In this World Cup, the top team from each group will directly advance to the quarter-finals and there will be crossover matches between the second and third placed teams. On reaching the last eight via crossover, they can face tough teams like defending champions Belgium. In such a situation, by registering a win against a team like Spain, India would like to improve its chances of reaching the direct quarter-finals. By the way, Spain, which is rank eighth in the world rankings, has never an easy opponent for India. India has win 13 out of 30 matches against Spain since 1948, while Spain won 11 matches. During this, six matches are drawn.

Total Four Matches On First Day

The first match of the tournament will play between Argentina and South Africa at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. On the other hand, in the second match of the day, the Australian team, a strong contender for the title, will play France in the other match of Pool-A. Then the first match at Birsa Munda Stadium with an audience capacity of 21000 will be between England and Wales. Later in the last match of the day, there will be India-Spain clash, 24 matches will play at Kalinga Stadium and 20 matches will play at Birsa Munda Stadium.

Hockey World Cup 2023 : Indian Team for World Cup

Goalkeepers: Krishna Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh
Defenders: Jarmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (Captain), Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas (Vice-Captain), Neelam Sanjeep Says
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Neelkant Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh
Substitutes: Rajkumar Pal, Jugraj Singh.