This story is from February 27, 2010

History of Hockey World Cup

Conceived by Pakistan's Air Marshal Nur Khan, the idea of the Hockey World Cup was proposed to FIH that approved it on October 26, 1969.
History of Hockey World Cup
Conceived by Pakistan's Air Marshal Nur Khan, the idea of the Hockey World Cup was proposed to FIH that approved it on October 26, 1969.
Conceived by Pakistan's Air Marshal Nur Khan, the idea of the Hockey World Cup was proposed to International Hockey Federation (FIH) that approved it on October 26, 1969, and it was adopted by the FIH Council in Brussels on April 12, 1970.
The first World Cup was allotted to Pakistan in 1971, but was shifted to the Real Polo Club in Barcelona, Spain, because of security issues in Lahore.
The first three tournaments were held every two years.
The 1978 Cup was the only tournament held three years from the previous tournament. Since 1982, the tournament has been held every four years, halfway between the Olympics' hockey competition.
Pakistan is the most successful team of the Hockey World Cup, having won the tournament four times. The Netherlands have won three titles, and Germany has won two titles. India and Australia have each won the tournament once.
India qualified for the twelfth Hockey World Cup as hosts of the tournament.
A BRIEF HISTORY:
First Hockey World Cup:
The first Hockey World Cup was held in Barcelona, Spain from October 15-24, 1971 at Real Polo grounds.
After 30 matches and beating 9 other countries, including the host, Pakistan claimed the trophy.
The Indians were favourites despite having lost their hold on the Olympic gold medal at the 1968 Games in Mexico where they had finished third.

India duly qualified for the semi-finals with victories against France (1-0), Argentina (1-0) and Kenya (2-0) and came up against Pakistan who won the game 2-1.
Pakistan, who had lost 2-3 to Spain in the league, were lucky to even qualify for the semis as The Netherlands, needing a win to advance to the round of four, crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat to Japan.
Pakistan went on to win the World Cup, defeating Spain 1-0 in the final. India finished third after a hard-fought 1-0 win against Kenya.
Winner: Pakistan
Runner's Up: Spain
Second Runner's Up: India
Second Hockey World Cup:
The second Hockey World Cup was held in Amsterdam, Holland from August 24-September 2, 1973 at the Wagener Stadium, Amstelveen.
This is one of the few tournaments where the host country won the trophy on its own grounds after drawing 1-1 against India and then 4-2 through penalties.
India had a decent run in the preliminary league as they defeated Japan 5-0, drew goalless with Germany, beat Kenya 4-0 and drew 1-1 with New Zealand.
India then faced an under-strength Pakistan in the semi-finals. Pakistan virtually fielded a second string with 13 of their players from the 1972 Olympics serving a life ban for misconduct.
India snatched a 1-0 win to set up a clash with hosts Holland in the final.
With both teams scoring two goals each, the match went into extra-time, but that was goalless.
In the tie-breaker, Ajit Pal and Harmek converted while Harcharan Singh pushed wide and Govinda's attempt was saved. Ashok Kumar did not take the last push as the Dutch had by then clinched the issue for a 6-4 score-line.
Winner: Netherlands
Runner's Up: India
Second Runner's Up: West Germany
Third Hockey World Cup:
The third Hockey World Cup was held at Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from March 1-19, 1975.
This was the first time a Hockey World Cup was hosted at an Asian country and also the first time that India won 2-1 against Pakistan.
In the league, India lost 1-2 to Argentina and drew 1-1 with Australia besides defeating England 2-1 and debutants Ghana 7-0.
In their final league game that was replayed after rain interruption, India overcame West Germany 3-1 to top the pool.
In the semi-finals, India came from behind to beat Malaysia.
The rousing final remains one of the most debated and controversial international hockey matches.
Zahid Sheikh gave Pakistan a 1-0 lead, but Surjit Singh converted a penalty corner for the equaliser and Ashok Kumar netted the match-winner as India won the World Cup for the first time.
Winner: India
Runner's Up: Pakistan
Second Runner's Up: West Germany
Fourth Hockey World Cup:
The fourth Hockey World Cup was held at Campo del Polo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, from March 18-April 1, 1978 and was yet again dominated by Pakistan with a 3-2 win against the Netherlands in the final.
India ended up sixth in Buenos Aires much due to complacency and indiscipline, both among players and administrators.
The 1976-78 period is termed as dark days for Indian hockey that was marked by a seventh place finish at the 1976 Montreal Olympics where astro-turf was introduced.
The Indian playing elevens were decided at the last possible moment and the mismanagement was reflected in a series of defeats, including 1-3 to Canada and 0-7 to West Germany in the league besides 1-2 to Spain in the 5-6 position play-off match.
Pakistan won the competition for the second time beating the Netherlands 3-2.
Winner: Pakistan
Runner's Up: Netherlands
Second Runner's Up: Australia
Fifth Hockey World Cup:
World Cup came to India a year after they won the gold medal at the boycott-ridden 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and was held in Bombay from December 29, 1981 to January 12, 1982.
The run-up to the tournament, held in Bombay from December 29, 1981 to January 12, 1982, was rather ominous with Indian players up in arms after being lodged in the basement of the Wankhede Stadium while other teams were provided five-star accommodation. Following a media blitz and heavy criticism, the authorities shifted the Indian team to a well-appointed hotel.
Though not lacking in home support, India narrowly missed a semi-final spot and eventually settled for fifth place to end a rather disappointing run.
Pakistan grabbed the title after mercilessly beating West Germany 3-1 at the finals.
This was the last international tournament to be played on natural grass with the FIH opting for synthetic surface.
Winner: Pakistan
Runner's Up: West Germany
Second Runner's Up: Australia
Fifth Place: India
Sixth Hockey World Cup:
The sixth World Cup, was held at Willesden, London, England from October 4-19, 1986, was scheduled within a couple of days after the Asian Games in South Korea.
Underdogs Australia, who had consecutively taken third place in the previous two tournaments, finally prevailed and claimed their well-deserved trophy after beating hosts England 2-1.
The Indians lost 0-1 to Poland, 1-2 to Spain and 0-6 to Australia in the league. Their only consolation came from a 2-0 win against Canada and 2-2 draw with West Germany.
India lost 2-3 to Pakistan in extra-time in the 11-12 position match; that was witnessed by only a handful of spectators as the former kings of hockey bit the dust.
Winner: Australia
Runner's Up: England
Second Runner's Up: West Germany
Twelfth Place: India
Seventh Hockey World Cup:
The seventh Hockey World Cup was held in Lahore from February 12-23, 1990.
Possibly one of the most exciting tournaments ever with hosts Pakistan meeting Netherlands in the final yet again, but history did not repeat itself and Pakistan lost 3-1.
It was a nightmare of a tournament for India as the players had to deal with the fear factor. Due to security concerns, they couldn't even leave their hotel rooms and it eventually told on the team.
The Indians had to put up with ceaseless heckling from the partisan crowd each time they stepped on the pitch. The situation turned ugly when missiles were hurled at the players and the team was offered the option of pulling out, but they declined.
The Indians began with a 1-1 draw with Soviet Union, then lost 3-5 to Argentina, 1-2 to France, 3-5 to the Netherlands and 2-3 to Australia in the league. Their only win was against Canada (2-1) in the classification match before they lost 0-1 to Argentina to end up 10th.
Winner: Netherlands
Runner's Up: Pakistan
Second Runner's Up: Australia
Tenth Place: India
Eighth Hockey World Cup:
The eighth Hockey World Cup was held at Homebush Stadium in Sydney, Australia from November 23 to December 4, 1994.
The finals consisted of Netherlands versus Pakistan for the third time in history. The final game was a draw of 1-1, after penalties, Pakistan claimed the trophy with 4-3 win.
The World Cup would also be remembered for the mesmeric display of Shahbaz Ahmed who played the final against the Dutch nursing a hamstring injury.
India finished fifth while missing the semi-final berth by a whisker.
Defeats to Germany (2-1) and the Netherlands (4-2) in the league saw India finishing third in the pool with victories against Korea (2-0) and Belgium (4-2) and a 2-2 draw with South Africa contributing to their points tally of five.
India went on to beat Argentina and England to finish fifth, matching their 1982 World Cup ranking.
Winner: Pakistan
Runner's Up: Netherlands
Second Runner's Up: Australia
Fifth Place: India
Ninth Hockey World Cup:
The Hockey World Cup of 1998 was held at Galgenwaard Stadium in Utrecht, Netherlands from June 20-July 1, 1998.
The Dutch made history by being the only country to win a tournament at its home ground not once, but twice.
The World Cup witnessed the height of Spanish resurgence as they made it to the final only to lose 2-3 to the Netherlands in extra-time. It was a repeat clash of the 1996 Olympic final that the Dutch had won 3-1. The Utrecht success presented the Dutch their third World Cup.
India finished ninth after losing to Canada (1-4), Germany (1-4), South Korea (3-4) and the Netherlands (0-5) while chalking up just one win (1-0) against New Zealand in the league.
Winner: Netherlands
Runner's Up: Spain
Second Runner's Up: Germany
Ninth Place: India
Tenth Hockey World Cup:
After finishing fourth, third and second place in the past three decades, Germany took home the trophy of the 2002 Hockey World Cup held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from February 24 to March 4, 2002.
Germany won the tournament for the first time defeating Australia 2-1.
India suffered three consecutive defeats (1-2 vs South Korea, 2-3 vs Malaysia, 2-3 vs England) leading to ejection of coach Cedric D'Souza.
When Cedric's assistant Kumar took charge, the team fared only marginally better, defeating lowly Cuba 4-0, Poland 4-1, but narrowly losing to Australia 3-4 as India ended up playing for 9-12 positions.
A 3-0 win against Spain lifted India, but they went down 1-2 to New Zealand in the match for 9-10 positions.
Winner: Germany
Runner's Up: Australia
Second Runner's Up: Netherlands
Tenth Place: India
Eleventh Hockey World Cup:
The last Hockey World Cup was held at Mönchengladbach, Germany from September 6 to September 17, 2006.
Germany won for second consecutive time after beating Australia 4-3. Germany's Ulrich Bubolz received the Best Goalkeeper trophy and his teammate Christopher Zeller received the Most Promising Player trophy.
In their opening fixture, India and Germany were tied 2-2 with a minute left on the clock, but Germany struck seconds before close for a 3-2 decision.
A 2-3 loss to England in the next match effectively shut the door on India who then struggled to a 1-1 draw with South Africa before going down 1-2 to South Korea.
This was followed by a 1-6 thrashing against the Netherlands.
Having to play for 9-12 positions, India crashed to a 2-3 defeat to Argentina and then scrambled to a 1-0 win against South Africa in the 11-12 position playoff match.
Winner: Germany
Runner's Up: Australia
Second Runner's Up: Spain
Eleventh Place: India
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