Hockey World Cup 2023- India

[Frustrated]

Congrats to our hockey team. Perfect start to the tourney.  2-0 win .  Best wishes!!

[Frustrated]

2 hours ago, Number said:

 

Yeah man. It sucks.. may be once tournament picks up more people will follow. 

I m currently residing in Bhubaneswar.  There is lot of enthusiasm on hockey here in odisha. Animated hockey banners can be seen all over the city.  Tickets for upcoming matches are almost sold out as far as I could see.   Same level of interest may not be there in other states though. 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Frustrated

[Number]

5 minutes ago, Frustrated said:

I m currently residing in Bhubaneswar.  There is lot of enthusiasm on hockey here in odisha. Animated hockey banners can be see all over the city.  Tickets for upcoming matches are almost sold out as far as I could see.   Same level of interest may not be there in other states though. 

 

Yeah the stadium was full. Good to see such a great turnover. If we keep doing well in this sport I can sense it being another popular sport in a this decade.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Number

[Khota]

Thanks to Odisha, Hockey is still alive in India. 

[speedracer]

I support india in anything but politics and I know india is a top 4 side in field hockey. Have seen a few games but do fields make a difference in hockey across countries? 

 

So playing in india vs say Belgium? Do the fields make a difference to teamsM slow grass....fast grass etc? 

 

Sorry for a newbie question

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by speedracer

[neel roy]

With bronze in olympics ( if not for biased umpires we could have been in finals) anything short of reaching semis is a failure for me

[neel roy]

1 hour ago, speedracer said:

I support india in anything but politics and I know india is a top 4 side in field hockey. Have seen a few games but do fields make a difference in hockey across countries? 

 

So playing in india vs say Belgium? Do the fields make a difference to teamsM slow grass....fast grass etc? 

 

Sorry for a newbie question

 

valid question. But there is no grass in hockey unfortunately. Its astroturf which was introduced in 1976 which kind of ended indian domination.. astroturf helped fitter dutch players and indians gradually faded out after 1984 olympics till its renaissance in last 5 years..

[Khota]

2 hours ago, speedracer said:

I support india in anything but politics and I know india is a top 4 side in field hockey. Have seen a few games but do fields make a difference in hockey across countries? 

 

So playing in india vs say Belgium? Do the fields make a difference to teamsM slow grass....fast grass etc? 

 

Sorry for a newbie question

 

Yes, they do.

 

If you cut the grass low the ball goes fast, typically favoring faster teams.

 

You cut the grass tall, it slows down the game, helps slower teams.

 

Astro turf really quickened the game but took a toll on body.

 

Water the field down overnight and you have a very slow field.

 

Surface makes a lot of difference.

 

[Frustrated]

Ind vs Spain Highlights 

[speedracer]

40 minutes ago, Khota said:

Yes, they do.

 

If you cut the grass low the ball goes fast, typically favoring faster teams.

 

You cut the grass tall, it slows down the game, helps slower teams.

 

Astro turf really quickened the game but took a toll on body.

 

Water the field down overnight and you have a very slow field.

 

Surface makes a lot of difference.

 

Nice. So where is india good at? Tall grass, watered fields I would imagine. Are we good on fast grass too?

 

I mean are there different types of atroturfs sorry? 

Edited January 14, 2023 by speedracer

[speedracer]

59 minutes ago, neel roy said:

valid question. But there is no grass in hockey unfortunately. Its astroturf which was introduced in 1976 which kind of ended indian domination.. astroturf helped fitter dutch players and indians gradually faded out after 1984 olympics till its renaissance in last 5 years..

Indians can be very fit and strong. Just need proper diet. In Asia Indians can have very solid builds for most physical sports. Lack of access to proper diet and nutrition hinders our progress. 

 

Yea I meant astroturf sorry. Are there different types of astroturfs I mean?

[Khota]

12 minutes ago, speedracer said:

Nice. So where is india good at? Tall grass, watered fields I would imagine. Are we good on fast grass too?

 

I mean are there different types of atroturfs sorry? 

Indians are just not as strong and fast as Dutch, Aussies or Germans. That is the sad truth.

[speedracer]

19 minutes ago, Khota said:

Indians are just not as strong and fast as Dutch, Aussies or Germans. That is the sad truth.

There are many Indians who are. We don't have access to proper diet and nutrition. I call bs on that. We beat those guys in wrestling and even boxing etc many times. 

I have seen way too many big strong Indian guys around to know the truth. Being athletic is different but that can be worked on for most people. 

I live in Australia. We can definitely be as strong if not stronger than them. Problem we have is speed. That's due to lack of access to proper training and nutrition

 Average Indian is poor.

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by speedracer

[Vickydev]

11 hours ago, Frustrated said:

I m currently residing in Bhubaneswar.  There is lot of enthusiasm on hockey here in odisha. Animated hockey banners can be seen all over the city.  Tickets for upcoming matches are almost sold out as far as I could see.   Same level of interest may not be there in other states though. 

Bhubaneswar hosted the last WC as well I think. There is real patronage for the sport. Interesting that the other stadium is named after Birsa Munda

[Frustrated]

4 minutes ago, Vickydev said:

Bhubaneswar hosted the last WC as well I think. There is real patronage for the sport. Interesting that the other stadium is named after Birsa Munda

Yep.  Bhubaneswar alone hosted the last WC in 2018.   Good that this time they hv included rourkela too.   Birsa Munda stadium in rourkela is a brand new one and is quite impressive.   

[Number]

We have beaten Dutch quite a few times recently. Even Belgium is not far ahead of us. In Olympics SF they only just edged us because of poor refereeing.

For rest of the European teams and Argentina we are easily better.

Only Australia is way ahead. They always thrash us by big margins.

Strangely Europeans and Argentina give Aussies tough time but somehow we always look outpaced against them.

[Frustrated]

Aus thrashed France 8-0 yesterday.  

Aussies look ruthless this time.   Strong contender for the title.   Defending champ Belgium don't look all that strong right now.  I think it's a toss between Aus, Netherland (and maybe Argentina).  Ind might make it to SF.   Anything beyond that should be a bonus.  

[speedracer]

1 hour ago, Number said:

We have beaten Dutch quite a few times recently. Even Belgium is not far ahead of us. In Olympics SF they only just edged us because of poor refereeing.

For rest of the European teams and Argentina we are easily better.

Only Australia is way ahead. They always thrash us by big margins.

Strangely Europeans and Argentina give Aussies tough time but somehow we always look outpaced against them.

It's all 100% mental. 100%. Trust me. It happens in fighting too. 

You may be more skilful and even stronger bigger but there is always that one bad matchup who is stylistically a nightmare to face for you yet everyone else can smash that individual. It happens. 

When you lose once to an individual despite being equal in terms of skills, it always causes self doubt if you face the same individual again. Just like nz vs India in icc away from Asia. We always choke vs them outside Asia in icc tournaments due to us being poor mentally. Yet everyone else smash them. 

 

India is a better team than nz but due to our poor mentality. 

Edited January 14, 2023 by speedracer

[Gollum]

Hope to catch some action in the coming days, at least India games.

 

Australia and Belgium clear favorites for me, far far ahead of rest of the field. Think those 2 heavyweights will play the final, and backing Belgium to make it 3 big titles in a row, after their success in previous WC and Tokyo Olympics gold. Last few years both Aussie men and women have become chokers in KOs of these big events, the men more noticeably so. Australia may look unstoppable in group games and against us (big mental block) but can't see them winning 3 KOs in a row against elite field. Belgium far more likely to, advantage for all top European sides, far tougher field and tournaments there prepare them mentally for this level of competition. 

 

Hope India gets to SF at least, and then more realistically a bronze, can't see us beating Aus or Bel. In fact against Aussies it may well turn out to be another massacre, this generation of ours carries too many mental scars against this particular opponent. Even if we outplay them we still lose somehow (like those 2 Champions Trophy finals, both we should have won by comfortable margin).....hoping that the draw opens up in our favor. Refs won't be kind to our team, so that's another challenge.

 

One team I am really interested to see is France, they will become the next Belgium in 5-10 years time, pretty sure. May even go deep in their home Olympics. Yes they got crushed 0-8 yesterday but Aussies can do that to any team, and have done so even against the Dutch in recent years !!!! 

 

Wish our boys the very best. Going to be bloody tough, and most likely the journey will end in QF/SF. 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Dutch too can surprise, for me the 3rd best team, a distant 3rd sure but never count them out in these big tournaments. Greatest hockey nation for a reason. 

 

Behind these 3 are Germany and India. Don't see any other side winning this trophy. Argentina maybe couple of years away from realistically fighting for podium place....

 

Though I must admit I haven't followed hockey (or any other sport tbh) for last 1-1.5 years. Apart from India I will be rooting for Japan, big fan of Tanaka. 

 

Pak missing out is a dampener, but they only have themselves to blame for this mess. Most successful WC nation not even qualifying, irrespective of my feelings about that country, this is sad to see. 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Gollum