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The HinduAugust 14, 2026

​Sticks and goals: On India at the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026

When India celebrates its 80th Independence Day, its men’s hockey team will open its World Cup campaign against Wales in Amstelveen, aiming to end a 51-year medal drought. Because of hockey’s emotional connection with Indians, the wait has been agonising for the eight-time Olympic champion. It won its last medal when the Ajit Pal Singh-led side lifted the trophy in Kuala Lumpur in 1975 during the pre-synthetic turf era. Trust in the present Harmanpreet Singh-captained side has grown after India broke a 41-year Olympic jinx with bronze in Tokyo in 2021 and retained it in Paris 2024. Under coach Craig Fulton, the team won Asian Games gold in 2023, Olympic bronze in 2024, and the Asia Cup in 2025, with the last one helping it qualify for the World Cup. Despite finishing eighth in the FIH Pro League 2025-26, India showed positive signs by beating World champion Germany and Olympic champion the Netherlands. After experiencing experimentation, defeats and two controversies — involving most-capped player Manpreet Singh, and the unwarranted decision to change the jersey from the familiar blue to saffron, the squad has regrouped for its first World Cup following the retirement of legendary custodian P.R. Sreejesh. After Wales, the eighth-ranked side faces a formidable England and traditional rival Pakistan in the pool. Comprising two-time Olympic medallists and promising youngsters, the team, placed sixth and ninth in the last two editions, now targets a higher finish in the World Cup before embarking next month on a mission to retain the Asian Games gold, which will earn it a berth in the 2028 Olympics. The Salima Tete-led women’s team has rebuilt under Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne after turmoil caused first by the exit of his predecessor and then by an alleged sexual harassment case involving a former Hockey India official. Marijne, who took India to its best-ever fourth in Tokyo in his first stint, guided it to World Cup qualification and Nations Cup victory. Despite the Hockey India League experience and the exposure to foreign players, the team of five 200-cap players and 11 debutants may find it tough to match 1974’s fourth-place finish. Ranked ninth, India plays Olympic silver medallist China on August 16, then South Africa and higher-ranked England. It will target a better position than 2022’s ninth before switching focus to the Asian Games. For the first time, the World Cup for both genders involving 32 teams altogether, with a new and tricky format, is co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands. Both the Indian teams must play as cohesive units to build towards Los Angeles 2028. Published - August 14, 2026 12:10 am IST Read Comments Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit READ LATER SEE ALL Remove Related Topics Independence Day / Hockey / India / Olympics / sports awards / Germany / Malaysia / Japan / France / Netherlands / United Kingdom / sexual assault / China / South Africa / gender / USA

Key GK Takeaways for CLAT
  • 1Sports governance in India operates through statutory and quasi-statutory bodies whose functioning periodically draws public and legal scrutiny, as with the alleged sexual harassment case involving a former Hockey India official mentioned in the editorial. Such cases typically fall under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, which mandates an Internal Complaints Committee in any organisation with ten or more employees, making sports federations equally accountable under this law as corporate workplaces.
  • 2India's hockey resurgence, including Olympic bronze medals at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, reflects a broader trend of increased state investment in Olympic sports through schemes like the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), launched in 2014 to fund elite athletes ahead of major Games. This domestic policy angle shows how sustained government funding and sports science support, rather than a single event, underpin performances such as India's wins over Germany and the Netherlands referenced in the editorial.
  • 3National sports federations like Hockey India are registered societies regulated partly under the National Sports Development Code of India, which sets governance norms including age and tenure limits for office-bearers, a framework introduced to improve transparency after repeated allegations of mismanagement across various sports bodies. Disputes over federation decisions, including personnel or kit changes as referenced in the editorial, can be challenged before the Delhi High Court or the Court of Arbitration for Sport depending on the nature of the grievance.
  • 4The editorial's numbers underline a genuine turnaround: an eight-time Olympic champion team that had gone fifty-one years without a World Cup medal since 1975 has, since 2021, won an Olympic bronze in Tokyo, retained it in Paris in 2024, claimed Asian Games gold in 2023, and won the Asia Cup in 2025. This cluster of results, achieved by a squad with two-time Olympic medallists and 11 debutants in the women's team, illustrates how quantifiable success across multiple tournaments builds credibility ahead of a career-defining event like a World Cup.

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