The Indian men’s Hockey World Cup team’s pursuit of a first-ever medal in 51 years ended in disaster as they ended the second stage of the tournament without getting a single point after losing their final match in this stage to Argentina 5-2 on Monday (August 24) at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen as they lost the chance to stay alive in the race ahead of the group’s final game later in the day between the Netherlands and England.
After losing to England in the first round 4-2, India had come to the second round with 0 points despite the wins over Wales and Pakistan. However, they started their campaign in Group E with a 2-0 defeat to hosts Netherlands on Saturday (April 22) before the nightmare outing today.
This means that World No. 8 India lost all three games they played against higher-ranked teams, with defeats to the Netherlands (World No. 1), England (World No. 4), and Argentina (World No. 7).
India’s 51-Year Wait Continues
While India has won an Olympic bronze medal in the last two editions in Tokyo and Paris, their struggles continue in the Hockey World Cup. The Men in Saffron have won the tournament just once, which was 51 years ago in 1975.
Since then, not only has India not lifted the tournament, but they have also neither managed to stand on the podium nor even played in the semifinals. Their best performance since has been a 5th-place finish in the 1982 edition at home in Mumbai (then Bombay) and the 1994 edition in Sydney.
In the last edition in 2023, India hosted the event just about 18 months after the heroic display in the Tokyo Olympics but had a nightmare campaign in Odisha as they failed to reach the quarterfinals after losing to New Zealand in the crossover (pre quarter-finals).