: Tough campaigns ahead for Indian mens and womens hockey teams #IndiaNEWS #Sports Mumbai, July 23 (IANS) The most successful nation at the Olympic Games, India, has never come back home with gold from

Tough campaigns ahead for Indian mens and womens hockey teams #IndiaNEWS #Sports
Mumbai, July 23 (IANS) The most successful nation at the Olympic Games, India, has never come back home with gold from the Commonwealth Games mens hockey competition. It reached the final twice in 2010 and 2014 but lost to Australia on both occasions.
As the clock ticks down for the start of the 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on July 28, the India mens hockey team embarks on another campaign with a lot to prove.
Top-most on Indias agenda will be to win their maiden gold and prove that the team has the ability to emerge victorious in a tough field.
Though the Commonwealth Games started in 1930 as the British Empire Games at Hamilton in Canada, hockey is a recent entrant, having made its debut in 1998, Kuala Lumpur. Australia have dominated and triumphed in all editions.
By winning gold in Birmingham, the Indian hockey team will also prove that its recent success is no flash in the pan. Coach Graham Reids India scripted history in Tokyo 2020 last year by winning bronze, its first medal at the Olympics in four decades and has recently finished third in the FIH Pro League. In recent times, the India mens hockey team has also attained its best position in FIH World Rankings.
One of the reasons why the India mens hockey team has faltered in the Commonwealth Games is the close proximity to the FIH World Cup and the Asian Games, which are invariably held in the same year.
With the Asian Games being the qualifying event for the subsequent Olympic Games, the India teams concentrated on the World Cup and the continental competition.
However, this time around the team does not face these hurdles as the Hangzhou Asian Games have been postponed to next year while the World Cup will be held in Odisha in January 2023.
The postponement of the Asian Games means Hockey India had to change its earlier stand of sending a second-string team to Birmingham and instead field a full-strength squad.
At CWG 2022, the India mens team is placed in Group B with England, Canada, Wales and Ghana as the other contestants. Group A comprises defending champions Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Scotland. With England as the only strong opponent, India stand a good chance of topping the Group and avoiding Australia in the semifinals.
Hockey India has selected a strong team for the competition. Led by Manpreet Singh, the side includes senior players like PR Sreejesh, Harmanpreet Singh, Surinder Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Akashdeep Singh, and Mandeep Singh along with youngsters Vivek Sagar Prasad, Hardik Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Gurjant Singh.
In 2018, the team coached by Sjoerd Marijne had finished fourth, losing 1-2 to England in the third-place match.

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