India will again be hosting the next edition of Men’s FIH World Cup in 2023 for the second time in a row. The decision was taken in the executive board meeting of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in Lausanne on November 8, 2019. According to the international governing body of Hockey, the tournament will be played from January 13 to 29.
The women’s tournament will be co-hosted by Spain and the Netherlands from July 1-17, 2022. Venues for the tournaments will be decided at a later date by the host countries.
Talking about the bidders, Belgium and Malaysia were the other two countries in contention for the men’s tournament. For women’s WC, Germany, Malaysia, Spain, New Zealand, and the Netherlands presented their bids.
Hockey India President Mohammad Mushtaque Ahmad said, “We are all very delighted to have won the bid to host the 2023 Men’s Hockey World Cup. When we had made the bid, we wanted to give our country another reason to celebrate 75 years of independence adding to that the fact that our last win was registered in 1975. And what better way to celebrate than to witness a pinnacle global event of our national sport on our soil.”
With the 2023 showpiece hockey event, India will become the only country in the world to stage four Men’s FIH WC. Previously, the hockey-loving nation has hosted the hockey carnival in 1982 (Mumbai), 2010 (New Delhi), and 2018 (Bhubaneswar).
India wants to improve its status in Hockey since it is the national game of the country. The last and only time India won the world cup is way back in 1975. Once a dominant team in Hockey, the country has last bagged a gold in Olympics in 1980.
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